Sanity Fair
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Sequel to Hearts on Fire. It's Buffy's birthday and the gang sets out to celebrate. Things don't go that smoothly though, and after an unexpected attack, they have to face dire consequences... Willow / OC - Completed
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: The following story is the sequel to my previously posted fic "Hearts on Fire", it's not 100% necessary to have read it first, but still recommended or some questions might pop up. Feedback is very appreciated.

Disclaimer: The characters used from the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer universe are not mine (unfortunately), but property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy etc. and I'm just borrowing them for a while; the fiery demon goodness of Pat sprang from my own mind, so she's mine to mess around with. Hehe.

Sanity Fair 

„…can't believe it's not here… Where is it? Must be here somewhere…" Those sounds of distress echoing through the bedroom were clearly heard by the demon in the kitchen, but for a while, she paid them no mind, figuring that whatever the owner of that sweet voice was looking for couldn't be far away; when she heard a low thud though, followed by some very out-of-character cursing, she rose an eyebrow, then put the cigarette she had been smoking into the ashtray on the windowsill and made her way to the bedroom, carefully opening the door and poking her head into the room. "You alright in here?"

"No", the one responsible for all this muttered words and thumping noises said in exasperation, throwing the taller woman a look that was a mixture of pleading and annoyance. "I can't find my earring… Have you seen it?"

"Which one?" she gave back, for a moment thinking longingly of the cigarette smouldering away in the kitchen, then shrugging it off and stepping into the bedroom, telling herself she'd have plenty of time to smoke later on – maybe even literally, if things didn't go quite as planned.

"The dangly one", the smaller redheaded woman now replied, causing her companion to rise an eyebrow, a smirk tugging one corner of her mouth upwards despite her obvious tries to hold it back. "That surely narrows it down, you only have like, I dunno, ten pairs of those?"

"I'm looking for the one which matches this one", the response came immediately, the earring nearly being shoved into the other woman's face, "and don't you smirk at me like that, Pat, just because you're content with owning one pair of earrings, which you constantly wear all the time anyway so you'll never be in danger of losing it, doesn't mean that I have to do the same as well…"

"Whoa, whoa, Willow, slow down", Pat gave back, holding up both hands, momentarily glad that she was wearing glasses and hadn't given in to the constant begging and pleading of her loved one to use contacts – that earring had been dangerously close to one eye after all. "I'm sure we'll find it", she added, scanning the room for the earring's missing partner already, "then you'll wear them and all will be fine and dan-"

"Don't say that", Willow interrupted her quickly, covering her mouth with her hand and causing her to let out a muffled, surprised noise, both eyebrows now practically shooting upwards. "The first time you said that, you got stabbed in the tummy afterwards", she explained, "then, the second time you said it, that vampire threw you out the window and you smashed the windshield of Giles' car. And the third time you said it, just last week if I may remind you, you set the carpet on fire when you tried to light up candles the living room and lost control of yourself."

"Because you walked in on me wearing nothing but that negligee thingy, which was very hot by the way", Pat pointed out in response, rising an eyebrow again afterwards. "Plus, you compare me getting stabbed in the tummy, thrown out of a window and setting the carpet on fire to a lost earring? Jeez, trivialize much?"

"…sorry", Willow mumbled after letting this sink in for a moment, "but… oh, it's so silly, but that pair of earrings means a lot to me… Buffy gave them to me for my birthday, last year, so…"

"It's not silly", the demon reassured her immediately, scanning the room for the earring once more afterwards, to no avail though, her gaze focusing on the smaller woman in front of her again moments later. "Did you look underneath the bed?"

"Why should it be there?" Willow gave back, now raising an eyebrow as well, making the demon shrug as response to her quizzical gaze. "How am I supposed to know? But did you look there?"

"No", the witch admitted after a moment, the taller woman giving her another smile in response – before she darted past her and crawled underneath the bed, almost ending up flat on her stomach thanks to the lack of space between the frame and the carpet. For a while, Willow watched in silence, now smiling to herself despite her annoyance about the lost earring – by now, Pat was almost all the way beneath the bed, the only thing still visible of her being her feet and part of her legs, said feet moving left and right slightly as the demon kept looking for her earring.

"So", the redhead spoke up after just watching the feet move for a while, amused by how they also went up and down as the demon tried to get further beneath the bed, "you setting the carpet on fire was some sort of demonic equivalent to a raging hard-on then?"

The response was immediate, but unexpected – Pat's feet jerked on the ground, apparently with the rest of her body as a low thump came from beneath the bed, followed by harsh cursing. "Ow, dammit dammit dammit, dammit all to the bowels of Hell! My head!"

"Sorry", Willow apologized between giggles – even though she always pretended to be shocked when her girlfriend started cursing that way, especially at the times she used much more boisterous curses and sounded like a sailor, it amused her to listen to those little tirades. "I guess I should have waited with asking that until you're standing again…"

"Indeed", came the grumbled response from beneath the bed, "and what kind of a question is that anyway? A raging hard-on? I'm female in _both_ forms, just in case you didn't notice…"

"Actually, I wasn't sure", Willow teased, giggling again when the feet twitched on the carpet, even though this time at least, Pat didn't hit her head. "I only saw that demon form once, remember, and you were dressed then, plus engulfed in fiery flames, so…"

"The flames are part of the package", the demon muttered in response, still sounding a bit sour – only to have her voice lighten up noticeably when she spotted a certain shiny, dangly object on the carpet beneath the bed.

"Found it!" she cried out triumphantly, causing Willow to let out a happy squeal; smirking to herself, the demon crawled out from beneath the bed again, managing to do so without hitting her head again, proudly holding the earring out to her girlfriend. "There you go", she stated the obvious, "now that poor other earring you're hopefully still holding and didn't lose while I was crawling around beneath my bed, saying Hi to the dust bunnies there, has his partner back and isn't single and lonesome anymore."

"Wow, that was close to Willow quality rambling", the redhead smirked in reply, accepting the earring and holding the other one up to reassure her girlfriend she hadn't lost it while she had had her little adventure beneath the bed. "And now, let me put these on, then I'm all set and ready to go…"

"Don't I get a reward for finding that earring?" Pat demanded to know in reply, the words accompanied by a pout and the cutest set of puppy-dog eyes she managed; giggling, Willow nodded in reply, stepping even closer to her afterwards so she could kiss her tenderly – on the cheek, to the obvious dismay of the taller woman.

"That's not enough", she declared once the redhead had pulled back again, "the payment for finding beloved dangly earrings is higher than that. A peck on the cheek is only sufficient for finding non-beloved earrings, or non-dangly ones."

"Then what is proper payment for finding beloved dangly earrings?" Willow played along, the response once more coming quickly – in form of the other woman bending down to kiss her, full on the lips, not content with just another smack on the cheek. With a small sigh escaping her as the kiss deepened, she wrapped both arms around the taller woman, closing her eyes momentarily when, after pulling back from the kiss, Pat moved slightly to kiss the sensitive skin of her neck; then, she forced herself to step away, giving the demon a scolding wriggle of her index finger. "Now, now, don't do that… You'll get me all worked up and then we'll be late."

"So?" Pat just mumbled in response, the look she gave the smaller woman afterwards making it clear that she'd be late anytime; giving her best to keep up her self-control, Willow shook her head in reply, smiling as the demon continued to practically undress her with her eyes. "So, Buffy will be sad if we're late for her birthday party. And we don't want a sad Slayer, do we?"

"She'd understand", Pat shrugged in reply, smirking afterwards and moving closer to the witch again, placing her hands on the smaller woman's waist so she could pull her closer. "She knows I can't keep my hands off of you anyway… Plus, you're getting me all worked up too, just by wearing that awfully pretty dress…"

With those words, she tugged at said dress, a rather daring piece of clothing with an – at least for Willow – surprisingly deep cleavage, the colour matching her hair and bringing out her eyes, the deep green of them now twinkling with mischief as she looked up at her loved one. "You get worked up no matter what I wear, my dear, so don't put the blame on me. You even got worked up once when I wore that old bulky sweater and just laid around on your couch, being lazy."

"Because I fantasized about what that sweater was hiding", the demon chuckled, raising her hands afterwards before Willow had a chance to reply, "but fine, fine… Let's go then, we really don't want a sad Slayer…"

"No, we don't", the redhead agreed in reply, still taking the time to steal a brief kiss from her girlfriend before she quickly put on the earrings, leaving the bedroom afterwards and making her way to the front door while Pat made a short detour to the kitchen, putting the cigarette she had left there out – even if she was a fire demon, she had no desire to burn her own apartment down. As soon as that matter had been taken care of, she joined Willow at the door, putting on her boots and jacket there, the redhead watching her slightly impatient; since she didn't want to show off her cleavage to all of Sunnydale, she had covered herself with a jacket as well, but thanks to the length of the dress – or the lack thereof – the population of the town still would get a rather good look at her legs, something she didn't mind though as long as Pat was by her side.

During the almost eight months they had been together now, she had learned yet another of the advantages of dating a demon – apart from uncanny stamina and the ability to provide fire and thus warmth whenever it was needed, Pat also knew how to shut up annoying guys who'd make vile comments about them kissing in public or even dared to try and cop a feel off her, one glance given by glowing red eyes usually more than enough to make them shut up or pull their hands back where they belonged. Every now and then, this wasn't enough, when the guy or guys in question had had too much to drink or felt especially daring; and even though Willow never had been all too fond of violence, not even after meeting Buffy, she had to admit that it felt good to see her girlfriend pick some obnoxious guy up by the collar and snarling threats and curses at them, until it seemed as if they'd wet their pants and were close to begging for forgiveness.

At first, it had been a bit weird to be with someone so protective of her, but she soon had realized that this was just one of the ways with which the demon showed her feelings for her, and that she couldn't really expect Pat to behave differently – after all, she was the one the demon had fallen in love with after two hundred years of living without knowing about this emotion, so it was only natural that she wouldn't want the person who captured her heart so unexpectedly, but thoroughly, to get hurt by nasty comments or molested by the hands of strangers.

"Ready to go?" the taller woman now tore her out of her thoughts, making her smile and nod; the couple shared another brief kiss, then left the apartment together, soon on their way to the restaurant where the first part of tonight's celebration would be held.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't see why we need to invite Buffy to such an expensive place", Anya complained as the group entered said restaurant together, after meeting in the parking lot; to the relief of everyone else, she at least had the decency to keep her voice down, keeping anyone else from hearing her tirade, but it still made the rest of the group sigh to themselves. "That burger place where she worked would have been enough. I had to buy a dress just for this occasion!"

"Me too, so?" Willow shook her head in reply, throwing the ex-demon a stern look. "It's Buffy's birthday, and this is part of the celebration. Plus, we won't take her to that awful burger place for her birthday, that'd just be… cheap."

"Exactly!" Anya agreed whole-heartedly, causing Pat to whisper "Not the best choice of words" into the smaller woman's ear, making her nod with a small sigh – before she looked at Anya again, her voice stern again. "Not that kind of cheap. Cheap of us to do this, as her friends. This is supposed to be a nice evening, and it's starting here, end of discussion."

For a moment, Anya looked as if she wanted to protest again, then fell quiet at the glance the witch gave her; she just sighed theatrically, making her way to the table Willow had reserved with the rest of the group, all of them smirking at the neatly written name cards which had been put on the smooth wooden surface.

"Admit it, this was your idea", Pat stated as she sat down at the place assigned to her, Willow taking the seat to her left with a smirk on her face, the candles on the table bringing out the sparkle in her eyes as she looked at the woman beside her.

"However did you figure that out?" she asked, giggling to herself afterwards while Xander and Anya took their places as well, both of them noticing that two empty chairs remained between Willow and the young man, the name cards quickly making it clear to them though that these were the seats of Buffy and Dawn.

"They should be here any minute now", Willow stated at the questioning look Xander gave her, after glancing at her watch; next to her, Pat noticed the non-smoking sign on the wall and looked unhappy for a moment, then apparently shrugged it off as she leaned back into her seat with a sigh and started toying with her napkin.

The feeling of Willow's hand on her upper leg distracted her from her new toy, and she looked at the witch, almost automatically smiling when her gaze met the one of the redhead; smiling back at her, Willow patted her leg briefly, then looked up as Buffy and Dawn finally approached the table, the Slayer apologizing for being late while she sat down, her sister taking the only remaining free seat next to her, a waiter coming over not too long afterwards and asking for their drink orders, marking the beginning of the celebration they all had been looking forward to during the last days.

* * *

After a rather filling dinner, consisting of soup, main course and dessert, the group left the restaurant to head on to the Bronze for drinks; none of them minded much that they all were slightly overdressed for that place, the two couples of the group strolling along hand in hand, Pat taking the chance given by being outside and smoking a cigarette.

"So Willow still didn't get you to quit", Dawn commented as she moved up to the couple, the redhead letting out a dramatic sigh in reply while the demon just chuckled, then shook her head, smirking down on the smaller teenager and briefly risking her idolized status by ruffling Dawn's hair with one hand.

"Everyone needs at least one vice", she then commented wisely while Dawn made a show of straightening her hair again, "and it's not like it can give me lung cancer, so…"

Behind them, Buffy smiled when her sister started to lecture the demon on how nasty and yucky smoking was, even if there was no danger for her to get cancer from it; still holding the not-cigarette-clutching hand of her girlfriend, Willow just wandered along in silence, smirking slightly to herself, giving the Slayer a chance to notice once more how happy she appeared to be.

Ever since the fight in the secluded house, where they had gotten rid of the big demon boss who had hired Pat to kill Buffy, a fight during which the black haired woman had proven once and for all that she indeed had changed sides and nearly had been killed, Willow seemed to be in a more or less constant state of happiness, practically always having a smile on her face; none of her friends had seen her like that for a long time after Tara had died, and it warmed the Slayer's heart to see her best friend so happy again.

During the last eight months, any small doubts about this relationship she still might have had left after that fateful fight had been blown away whenever she had watched the couple together; it was impossible to see the admiring glances Pat threw Willow every now and then, to notice how they both immediately smiled whenever they looked at each other and to see how the taller woman literally wasn't able to keep her hands away from the redhead, using every chance given to touch her – of course always in a decent way whenever someone was around – and not believe that their love was as real and honest as it could get.

"Penny for your thoughts", Willow's voice now tore her out of her musings, causing to her realize with slight surprise that for once, the witch wasn't holding hands with her lover, but had dropped back to talk to her, while Pat now was discussing the latest episode of some TV show they both enjoyed with Dawn, a topic which obviously didn't interest Willow much.

"The two of you", the Slayer smiled after a second, causing the redhead to give her a questioning look – after the fight in that secluded house, Buffy had made it clear that she was trusting the demon fully now, and that there was not an ounce of doubt left within her, so Willow couldn't really figure out what the Slayer might have been pondering about Pat and her.

"You're a cute couple", Buffy now clarified, to the relief of the redhead not bringing up any doubts about their relationship again, "and tonight, you're really looking amazing together…"

"And normally we don't?" Willow teased in reply, smirking briefly at the Slayer before her gaze moved to her girlfriend again, softening in that way it only ever did when she was looking at that woman.

"Of course you do", Buffy quickly reassured her, smiling as well though to show she hadn't taken the words of the witch fully serious. "But today, it's even more amazing than usually, what with you in that dress and her in that suit… I think I've never seen her in a suit before."

"You have no idea how long I had to pester her so she'd wear that tonight", Willow grimaced in reply, giggling slightly to herself afterwards as she remembered how exactly she finally had convinced her girlfriend of wearing that particular set of clothing, a small detail she wouldn't tell Buffy about though. "She hates wearing such formal clothing… If I'd let her, she would have gone out tonight wearing jeans, as she always does."

"I wouldn't have minded", Buffy shrugged, causing the witch to give her a scolding look, a smile forming on her face again though as she replied. "Don't let her hear that though, or she'll rush home to change. Plus, I would have looked awfully overdressed next to her then…"

"Or she would have looked underdressed, compared to the rest of us", Buffy pointed out, smirking; after a moment of pondering this, Willow nodded her agreement, looking at her girlfriend again afterwards as the taller woman was still strolling along slightly ahead of her, fully focused on the discussion she was having with Dawn.

"You'd never think she's two hundred and forty years old, seeing how she talks about that show with my sister", Buffy commented, smirking at the sight; next to her, Willow giggled and nodded, then looked at the Slayer again, after taking another moment to notice once more how much she liked the sight of her lover in a suit.

"Don't let her hear that either, though", she then stated, focusing on the blonde next to her again, "or she'll get cranky and point out that she's not even two hundred and thirty nine yet… She can get surprisingly touchy about her age."

Buffy just nodded in reply, still smiling even though a more serious thought had come up in her mind, something she had been pondering quite often ever since the demon and her best friend had started dating – with Pat not really aging, but Willow doing so just the way any other human would, she wondered if this would become a problem for the couple sooner or later, and if the redhead was aware of this.

Shrugging it off, the Slayer told herself that Willow surely had thought of this before, but had ignored it for now, something which was easily possible at the moment – after all, Pat even looked a bit older than her currently, and it'd take quite some time for that to change; telling herself that there'd be enough time to talk about this on some other day, and that it wasn't necessary to maybe ruin the nice time they wanted to have, Buffy fully forced those thoughts out of her mind.

A short time later, the group arrived at the Bronze, earning some strange looks for the way they were dressed, none of the six minding it though as they entered the club and found a free table, all thoughts about problems which might come up in her best friend's relationship gone by the time Buffy sat down and nodded when Xander asked her if she wanted beer as well, smiling at her friends while they made themselves comfortable, suddenly filled with gratitude about their presence and support.


	3. Chapter 3

It didn't take long for Xander and Pat to supply them all – except for Dawn – with beer, the demon having offered her help when it had become clear that the young man would have a hard time carrying six drinks without spilling or even dropping anything; once everyone had been given their drinks, the black haired woman made herself comfortable next to Willow again, giving her one of those dazzling smiles she only ever seemed to aim at her. Almost automatically, the witch returned the smile, then placed one hand on the upper leg of the woman beside her and leaned in to kiss her; when they had started dating, she had had her troubles with showing affection that way in public, but during the last eight months, this slowly had faded away, aided by the fact that Pat was always reacting accordingly whenever someone made vile comments about it.

Still the redhead kept the kiss innocent, not wanting to make their friends feel left out; it seemed that Xander and Anya had no such qualms, since they were kissing much more passionately, Dawn and Buffy both making a point of not looking at them.

"I've really been the Slayer for too long", the blonde sighed out after taking a long sip of her beer, not bothering with the people around as she figured they wouldn't hear her over the rather loud music anyway, "I'm starting to feel bad for being here and having fun instead of going to the graveyard and doing my job there…"

"Even Slayers need a time off every now and then", Willow gave back, smiling reassuringly at her friend, "but I understand your point… I'm sure though that it won't have any dire consequences. Even Giles was fine with you taking a night off."

"Yes, thank God, or I'd feel even worse", Buffy giggled in reply, making the rest – sans Xander and Anya, the couple still busy with kissing – laugh; smiling as well, the Slayer leaned back into her seat and took a sip of her beer before she spoke on, now sounding slightly regretful. "Pity he didn't come along though…"

Everyone nodded their agreement to that, briefly pondering the absence of the Watcher; then, they all shrugged it off simultaneously, determined to have a good time and not willing to let anyone or anything ruin that. By now, Xander and Anya finally had managed to pull apart again as well, Buffy preventing them from starting to smooch again by asking the young man how work was going at the construction site which currently was employing him; enthusiastically, he started telling her about it, while Anya turned towards Willow and politely inquired about how she was doing at college, the witch quickly figuring out that this only would lead to the ex-demon talking about how the business was going at the Magic Box again – after all, all conversations with Anya ended that way somehow, with her happily showing off how much money she was making while the rest listened in resigned silence.

This time, Anya didn't have a chance to bring that up again though, as the DJ unknowingly provided a way out by playing a rather slow song; immediately, Pat perked up, then looked at Willow, smiling while she held her hand out to the witch, the redhead starting to smile as well when her girlfriend spoke up. "Feel like dancing?"

"Sure", Willow immediately gave back, glad that Pat had asked – when they had started dating, the demon had been more than reluctant to dance with her, until the redhead had pointed out that during slow dancing, all she had to do was hold her and shuffle her feet a bit, something even someone as untalented at dancing as Pat could do. Not wanting to appear impolite, she excused herself towards Anya, then grasped her girlfriend's hand and rose from the chair; together, they made their way to the dance floor, where several couples were enjoying closeness by now, the witch smiling up at the taller woman when Pat put her arms around her waist and pulled her close, making her return the embrace by bringing up her hands and clasping them behind the demon's neck, this giving her a welcome chance to touch that long black and red hair she loved so much.

"I was hoping they'd play such a song tonight", she mumbled as they danced to the slow tune, focused only on each other, the rest of the world around them for the moment forgotten. "I love it to dance with you…"

"Same here", Pat gave back, a smirk curling her lips moments later, her next words making the witch roll her eyes in mock annoyance. "But only because it gives me a chance to touch you and hold you close to me…"

"As if you'd need an excuse for that", the redhead smirked, a twinkle in her eyes as she gazed at the nearby pool table pointedly before she spoke on. "Even though I have to admit you were quite creative with making them up when you still had to… Remember our little game of pool?"

"How could I forget", Pat chuckled in reply, throwing a look at the table as well, then focusing on the smaller woman in her arms again. "That was the best game of pool I ever had."

Smiling, Willow nodded her agreement, then rested her head on the black haired woman's shoulder, something she could do comfortably thanks to the rather significant height difference; she felt Pat tighten her embrace around her and closed her eyes, the small sigh which escaped her drowned out by the music, her heart at peace as she enjoyed the dance and the closeness, once more thanking her lucky starts for making everything work out that way.

* * *

Two hours and with the help of several beers later, Pat apparently had gotten over her dislike of dancing, since she had danced to faster paced songs with Buffy, Dawn and even Anya; while she had been doing so, Willow had shared a dance with Xander and a guy she knew from college, remaining on the dance floor with Xander while Pat and Dawn made their way back to their table and sat down there, the black haired woman letting out a huff.

"Enough dancing for me now", she stated, theatrically wiping sweat off her brow before she glanced back to the dance floor, where Willow now was focused on her dance with her childhood friend; she smiled briefly at the sight of the two having fun, then scanned the table for her beer, quickly finding it and taking a long sip of it.

"For me, too", Dawn agreed, discreetly taking her high-heeled shoes off underneath the table and rubbing her feet, a grimace on her face; chuckling, Pat watched her, once more glad that she only owned flat shoes, the way Dawn was wriggling her toes making it clear that high heels clearly weren't that comfortable.

"I could need a foot rub now", the teenager sighed, throwing an envious look at Willow afterwards before her gaze focused on Pat again. "I bet you give Willow foot rubs when she needs them…"

"Foot rubs, and massages, and back rubs", Pat confirmed, causing Dawn to let out a sigh, a smile appearing on her face again moments later.

"You know, she's really lucky to have you", she stated, sounding surprisingly mature as she spoke on, making Pat wonder briefly where this was coming from all of a sudden. "Especially after the whole thing with Tara… You should have seen her, she was so down and depressed all the time…"

Before the demon had a chance to reply something, the sound of some disruption on the dance floor gained her attention; curiously, she glanced into the direction the noises had been coming from, her gaze darkening the moment she saw Xander and Willow struggling with some guy, the man obviously a bit too keen on getting his hands on the witch – and quite successful, despite the tries of Willow and Xander to fend him off.

Next to her, Buffy started to rise from her seat as well, only to let herself fall back into it when she saw the expression on the black haired woman's face; she hadn't been there often when Pat had found it necessary to defend her girlfriend's honour, but often enough to figure out what that look on the taller woman's face meant.

"You'll handle it?" she still asked, making Pat nod; she looked briefly at the Slayer, then took off her glasses and handed them to her, her voice filled with barely suppressed rage as she spoke up. "Keep an eye on those for me, please."

"Sure", Buffy shrugged, smiling to herself while she leaned back into the seat, briefly wishing for popcorn as she watched Pat get up and make her way to the dance floor, the people who had already witnessed her reaction to such obnoxious guys quickly moving out of her way, to the Slayer's amusement.

"…your hands off her!" the demon now could hear Xander's angered voice as she approached them, briefly wondering to herself why he didn't just punch the guy's lights out; then, she shrugged it off as she stepped up to the struggling group, Willow giving her a rather pleading look the moment her gaze fell on her, this only spurring her on further. Smiling pleasantly now, she tapped the presumptuous guy's shoulder politely, clearing her throat; muttering something rather obscene to himself, he turned to look at her, Willow taking the chance given by this distraction and moving away from him, tugging at her dress and straightening it where his eager hands had crumpled it.

"I believe my girlfriend here made it quite clear to you that she'd prefer it if you wouldn't touch her", the demon now stated, sounding so polite that Giles would have been proud of her; obviously unfazed by this, the guy just kept holding her gaze while Xander and Willow wisely moved a few steps back, by now knowing that might follow, the sight of Pat without her glasses being a quite clear indication for the rage she was hiding so well.

"Just wanted to dance with her", the guy now stated, sounding so smug that it was ridiculous, "no need to get all pissed off, woman… Or are you afraid she'll like me so much that she'll want to dance in my bed with me?"

"Oh boy", Xander mumbled while Willow winced, either at the mental image those words had caused for her or with pity for the guy, "that was so the wrong thing to say, pal…"

"Indeed", Pat agreed, making the guy look from Xander to her again – before she punched him, straight in the face, hard enough to send him a few steps back before he fell and landed on the floor with a low thud, a dazed look in his eyes as he tried to sit up again. With two fast steps, Pat moved up to him, making him yelp as she grabbed him by the collar and jerked him to his feet; ignoring his feeble struggling, she dragged him back to Willow, holding him in a firm grip, sounding as if she was ready to tear off his head when she spoke up. "Apologize. _Now_."

"I'm sorry", he panted out, having some difficulty to focus on Willow, but finally succeeding, aided by Pat tightening her hold on his collar until it nearly cut off his flow of air. "Really, I am, I'm sorry…"

"Accepted", Willow gave back, unable to keep a mean little smirk off her face when in response to her words, Pat unceremoniously let go of the guy's collar and caused him to drop to the ground again, crossing her arms over her chest afterwards and giving him a glare that sent him to his feet and away from the group so fast he nearly fell down again. Still smirking to herself, Willow watched him go until he had stumbled out of the club, then turned to face her girlfriend again; stepping closer to her, she embraced the taller woman, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at her. "Thanks… My knight in shining armour…"

"Dame", Xander threw in from behind, causing them both to look at him, a sheepish smile appearing on his face while he shrugged. "That'd be the female equivalent to a knight… I think. Not sure. But either way, it was very knight-ish. Even without the armour and everything."

"Thanks, I guess", Pat gave back after thinking about his words for a moment; he smiled sheepishly again in reply, then the trio moved back to the table where the rest was waiting, Anya scolding her boyfriend the moment he was close enough to hear. "Why didn't you just punch that guy? If it had been me, would you have waited for Pat to come and do it as well? If she even would do it, seeing Willow's her girl, not me!"

"Of course I'd do it", Pat immediately reassured her, "only with a bit less passion than when I do it for Willow. And only if Xander wouldn't do it first."

"Sure I'd do it", the young man now defended himself, Anya only rolling her eyes in reply while Pat took her glasses back from Buffy and put them on, blinking as her eyes readjusted to them, the Slayer complimenting her on the punch she had delivered once they all had taken their seats again.

"Next time, you should try an uppercut and aim for the jaw", she then advised, a mischief little twinkle in her eyes. "With the force you put behind that punch you just gave that dude, I bet you'd actually lift him off his feet that way."

"That'd be nice to see", the demon smirked in reply, now with Willow rolling her eyes next to her and shaking her head; then, they all chuckled and lifted their drinks for a toast, the annoyance about the obnoxious guy soon forgotten.

* * *

As he stumbled down the street leading away from the Bronze, he couldn't believe that he had been humiliated this way, the blood which was dripping from his nose and the pain which pulsed through his head making sure he wouldn't forget it while he finally stopped and leaned against the wall, taking in a few deep breaths, despite how much it increased the hurt in his nose to do so. Grimacing, he tenderly touched the spot where the fist had landed, hoping that nothing had been broken – for a woman, she really had had a mean punch, he had to admit, and once more, he wondered if he really had seen her eyes glow brightly red the second she had hit him or if he had imagined that, a hallucination caused by the shock and the sudden pain.

"Wow, she really owned you", a voice now came from his left, startling him and making him let out a nasal yelp as he spun around, bringing up his fists; chuckling, the man who had approached him unnoticed held up his hands to show he was unarmed, a smirk on his face as he studied the bruise which already was forming. "That must hurt…"

"It does", he muttered in reply, crossing his arms over his chest afterwards and throwing the stranger a sour look. "But what do you care? What do you want anyway?"

"I'm sure you want to pay her back for that", the man went on in reply, completely ignoring the questions he had been asked, smiling pleasantly as he took another step closer to his beaten vis-à-vis. "Don't you want to make her pay for that?"

"Course I want to", the guy finally muttered in reply, hawking afterwards and spitting a mouthful of blood on the pavement, "but I'm not suicidal, man… She's way stronger than me. Have you seen how she picked me up by the collar?"

"Of course I did", the man replied, sounding soothing as he took yet another step closer, the pleasant smile on his face widening slightly.

"But I can help you", he added, reaching out and placing one hand on the shoulder of the slightly smaller man, holding his gaze now as he raised his free hand, making the other man wonder briefly from where the dagger he suddenly was holding had come.

"No way", he protested, his eyes going wide as he saw how sharp the blade was, glistening as if it had been dipped into some sort of liquid, "I won't do that, no way man… That's way too harsh."

"Oh, you don't have to kill her", the taller man reassured him, pressing the handle of the dagger into his hand. "A cut will be enough… No matter where, no matter how deep. And I shall repay you greatly for your… services…"

With those words, he caught the gaze of the other man again, his eyes briefly glowing in bright yellow as the two men just looked at each other; then, slowly, the smaller man nodded his head, sounding as if he just had woken up from a deep sleep when he replied. "Sure… Just a cut… That'll teach her…"

"Oh, it will", the taller man almost whispered, his pleasant smile turning into a malicious smirk. "It'll teach her so much… she'll be petrified." He laughed at his own words, his companion just smiling dumbly in response; once he had calmed down again, he led his new partner into a dark side alley and started explaining there, telling him where to wait and what to do, his hypnotic gaze never leaving the eyes of his companion.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Special thanks to my dear friend who introduced the word(s?) "artsy-fartsy" to me, and allowed me to use it in the story. I thought it'd be perfect coming out of Pat's mouth, so there we go. :)

* * *

"That was the best birthday party ever", Buffy declared as she left the Bronze several hours later with her friends, all of them nodding their agreement; thanks to the fact that she was the Slayer, she hadn't been able to get a bit tipsy, unlike Xander, Anya and Willow, but it comforted her a bit that Dawn and Pat were sober as well, the teenager due to the fact that she was too young to drink beer and the demon because of her nature, giving her a higher resistance to alcohol.

"We should see some time if we can get drunk together, and who passes out first", the blonde giggled as she nudged Pat, making the taller woman smirk and nod; next to her, Willow tried to protest, then trailed off and fell silent as she realized that she hardly was in a position to do so, being slightly tipsy.

"I bet I'd win", the demon challenged the Slayer as soon as Willow had fallen silent again and was just walking along beside her girlfriend, more clutching her hand than just holding it, counting her steps now as the cool nightly air was helping a great deal with making her more than just a bit tipsy. "I've got two hundred years of drinking experience."

"But I've got Slayer powers", Buffy pointed out in reply, "so I'll win. Yay me."

"I can put a spell on you so it'll be fair", Willow offered, a slight slur in her voice now, just enough to let the rest of them notice; next to her, Pat shook her head, briefly interrupted by Xander hiccupping noisily before she had the chance to reply. "That'd be unfair. If I'm gonna drink Buffy under the table, I'll do it fair and square."

"How noble of you", Buffy smirked, making the demon smile as well while she shrugged, a mischief expression in her eyes as she responded. "Hey, even demons have honour. Plus, there are not many other demons who can claim they beat the Slayer at drinking… But I'll only do that with beer, not with such artsy-fartsy cocktails."

"Artsy-fartsy", Willow giggled next to her, causing Pat to raise an eyebrow – before she let go of the witch's hand so she could put an arm around her waist, obviously keen on steadying her since by now, she was swaying slightly as she walked.

"You won't be part of that drinking contest", she declared, making the witch shake her head while next to her, Xander hiccupped again, covering his mouth to stifle a burp afterwards before he let the group know he wouldn't join them in their little contest, either.

"Better that way", Anya agreed, sounding not fully sober either, "or you'll spend way too much money on alcohol, which will make you puke if you drink too much, so it'll be a waste of money!"

"You're so greedy", the witch accused in reply, saying out loud what everyone else was thinking.

"I'm not", Anya defended herself, throwing her a slightly annoyed look. "I just don't like it to spend money."

"That _is_ greedy", Willow pointed out, making the ex-demon huff in reply; before she could respond something though, Buffy suddenly spoke up, all banter gone out of her voice. "Guys. Look."

Almost in perfect unison, they all focused on what Buffy was pointing out to them, Willow and Dawn letting out a small gasp at the sight of a familiar guy lying on the sidewalk, flat on his back, his eyes closed.

"That's the one you punched", Xander helpfully pointed out to Pat, making the demon nod as she recognized him as well, slight worry in her voice when she replied. "Do you think I hit him too hard? He seemed more or less fine when he left…"

"Let's check on him", Buffy stated after a moment of hesitation, telling herself that this was part of her duty as Slayer; she told the rest to wait, then made her way over to the motionless figure with Pat by her side, the two crouching beside him and looking at him, the blonde patting his cheek after a few moments during which she had clarified that he was still breathing.

The moment she touched him, his eyes flew open, the Slayer just having a second to notice that they were glazed over weirdly, as if he was asleep with his eyes open – then he brought up his hand, the dagger he had hidden beneath his leg flashing in the artificial light of the streetlamp close to them as he slashed at Pat, the demon letting out a yelp as he pulled the blade over her forearm, easily cutting through the clothing and skin, drawing blood. "_Ow_! Why you little…"

Before Buffy or she had the chance to try and grab him, the guy had come to his feet and was running off; for a second, the Slayer felt like going after him, then decided against it and threw a concerned look at Pat, the demon clutching her arm and grumbling to herself, blood seeping out between her fingers. "He got you, didn't he? Is it bad?"

"No", the black haired woman gave back while Willow came running up to her now, the shock about what just had happened clearly having sobered her up, the rest of the group right behind her, "just a cut… What the Hell was that about?"

"Let me see", the witch demanded as she reached the two, crouching next to them as well; grimacing, the demon obeyed her, relief surging through the redhead when she saw that the cut indeed wasn't too bad, the flow of blood already ceasing.

"Now my suit's ruined", Pat mumbled as she came to her feet, nearly cowering at the look Willow gave her in reply.

"Who cares", the redhead stated, clearly irritated, "the important thing is that you're fine… What a dolt!"

"I'll have some saucier words for him, should I ever see him again", the demon grumbled, smiling again though when Willow took her hand again, obviously glad that she hadn't been hurt worse; they shared a quick, innocent kiss, then the group started walking again, the mood slightly dimmed now though as the Slayer tried to figure out if there had been a special reason for this strange event – and if there was anything she had missed, the explanation that Pat just had been lucky for some reason not fully satisfying her.

* * *

When Buffy had arrived at her home and had laid down, she had been sure that she'd slumber until lunchtime in the next morning; with Willow spending the night at Pat's, there also wouldn't have been any danger of the redhead waking up way too early and making enough noise to tear her out of her sleep as well, it had seemed realistic that her expectations would be fulfilled.

"Should have known better", she muttered to herself as the ringing of the phone tore her out of her slumber after way too little sleep, a sigh escaping her while she forced herself out of bed; rubbing her eyes, she trotted over to the phone, vowing to herself that if this wasn't important, she'd shout at the caller for waking her up like that.

"Hello?" she still made herself sound friendly; moments later, all her anger was gone as all she could hear through the receiver was almost hysterical sobbing and stuttering, the words too jumbled to let her understand anything.

"Who's there?" she demanded to know, her voice clearly showing how alarmed she was feeling; for a few more moments, all she could make out was more sobbing, then the person on the other end of the line seemed to get at least a bit of self-control back, the now familiar voice trembling. "I-it's me… Buffy you have to come here please, come here now, oh God…"

"Willow?" the Slayer tried to clarify, shocked by how devastated her best friend sounded – the last time she had had that tone in her voice had been when Tara had died, and the memory of how that had ended was one of the many Buffy would prefer to forget.

"What happened?" she still demanded to know, giving her best to sound soothing now as she still could hear the redhead crying over the phone; in response, Willow just begged her to come over as fast as she could, obviously not able to speak about the reason for her dismay.

"I'll be there as fast as possible", Buffy finally promised as she realized that she wouldn't get any proper answers over the phone, "and I'll call the rest to come there as well… Okay? Just try to calm down, I'm sure whatever it is, we'll figure something out…"

"O-okay", Willow brought out in response, the sound of her voice nearly breaking the Slayer's heart; even though she still had no idea what had happened, she reassured Willow once more that she'd be there as fast as possible and that everything would be alright before she hung up, quickly calling Xander and Giles afterwards and telling them to meet her at Pat's place before she hurriedly changed into fresh clothes and rushed off, her heart hammering up to her throat as she wondered what she might find at the apartment.


	5. Chapter 5

Not even half an hour later, Buffy had been forced to realize that maybe, she had been overhasty when she had promised Willow on the phone that everything would be alright; all she could do was stand in shocked silence and look at the unexpected, but horrible sight presenting itself to her, almost absent-mindedly holding the redhead beside her close and caressing her hair comfortingly, her gaze never leaving the reason for Willow's tears.

A few feet away, Giles was on one knee, studying said reason with his glasses in one hand and a rather clueless expression on his face; behind him, Xander and Anya stood, their gazes jumping back and forth between the object in front of the Watcher and Willow, clearly showing how worried they were.

"And you have no idea how this happened?" Giles finally spoke up again, looking at Willow; sniffling, she shook her head, her voice trembling as she replied, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"No", she brought out, sniffling audibly again afterwards, "I woke up just before I called Buffy and found her like this… I didn't even notice how it happened…"

"Did anything strange happen after you came home?" Giles asked in reply, now not looking at the redhead anymore, but at the stone figure in front of him, on eye-level with the statue's face due to the fact that he was still down on one knee. For anyone who knew Pat, it was clear on the first look that it was her; anyone who wasn't part of the group around Buffy would simply have assumed that the statue had been modelled after her, but judging from Willow's reaction and from the other things they had faced so far, it was obvious that something much more drastic had happened.

"No", the redhead now brought out, finding herself unable to look away from the stony figure of her girlfriend, "nothing… We just came home and I bandaged up that cut she got so it wouldn't get infected and then we went to sleep…"

"The cut", Buffy suddenly stated, interrupting Willow and keeping Giles from asking yet another question, causing everyone in the room to look at her, realization soon dawning on the faces of Xander, Anya and Willow as well. "The cut that guy gave her, with the dagger… Remember how he didn't seem to care how bad he actually hurt her?"

"Would you mind giving me the details of this event you're talking about?" Giles threw in before anyone else could respond; quickly, Buffy told him about what had happened in the Bronze and about the guy with the dagger, the Watcher nodding thoughtfully once she had gotten done, putting his glasses back on and focusing on the statue again.

"This would make more sense than if it had been done by a spell", he stated, briefly unnerving Willow with his calm reaction, before she told herself that this was just the way he always behaved and forced herself to keep quiet so he could speak on. "There are spells which can be used to petrify persons… or demons… But those usually work instantly…"

"How do you know this didn't happen instantly?" Anya demanded to know in reply, gesturing at the petrified Pat; turning to look at her, Giles threw Willow a brief worried glance before he explained himself, the rest listening in silence. "The position she's in… Willow, the bedroom is over there, right?"

With those words, he pointed at a nearby door, making the redhead nod as she wondered where this was leading; taking off his glasses again, Giles rubbed his eyes briefly, throwing the redhead another concerned look before he continued, knowing that there was no use in holding his speculation about how this had happened back. "There are poisons which can cause this… effect… She does sleep, right?"

"Of course she sleeps", Willow gave back, asking herself what this had to do with anything, throwing the Watcher an irritated look; he shrugged in response and put his glasses back again before he spoke on. "Some demons don't need sleep, so… But, as I said, judging from her position… Keep in mind that this is only guesswork, but I assume that she woke up, feeling the effects from the poison kick in, and left the bedroom, going down on her knees when the effect kicked in fully and… Well…"

He trailed off, not knowing what else to say; for a while, there was silence, then Anya spoke up, saying out loud what everyone else was thinking. "So how do we undo it? Not that Pat doesn't make a great statue, but Willow probably prefers her alive and in the flesh."

"Well, to know how to undo it, we need to find out which poison he used", Giles gave back, the look he gave Willow afterwards full with pity, immediately clenching the redhead's heart with worry, fresh tears filling her eyes at what the Watcher said next. "And if it is reversible… Not all poisons with this effect are…"

"I'm sure it will be", Buffy threw in, pulling Willow a bit closer to herself to give her the comfort she obviously needed. "All we need to do is find this guy, make him talk about which poison he used, and then get the antidote. Should be easy, compared to some of the other stuff we did in the last few years."

"I'll find him", Willow muttered, her gaze now focused on her petrified lover; she moved out of Buffy's embrace and over to the statue, none of her friends seeing how for the split of a second, black flashed up in her eyes, the calm sound of her voice surprising the rest when she spoke on. "And he better gives us the answers we need…"

Tenderly, she reached down and ran her fingers over the cold stone, taking in a deep breath to hold the tears back; then, she turned and faced her friends, still sounding strangely calm as she told them that they had to go the Magic Box for some supplies she'd need for the tracking spell, the group immediately nodding their agreement.

"What about Pat?" Anya then asked, gesturing at the petrified demon, "should we just leave her here? Or take her along?"

"We can't take her along", Xander protested, throwing his girlfriend an annoyed look, his mouth once more working faster than his brain as he continued. "She's made of stone now, so too heavy to carry around. And what if we drop her and she breaks?"

"Oh God", Willow brought out at that horrible mental image, causing Xander to throw her a mortified look as he realized what he had said; the redhead took in a few deep breaths, then seemed to regain her composure as she went to get her jacket without another word, the rest following after a moment, the group leaving for the Magic Box a minute later.

* * *

Once they had arrived at the shop, Willow immediately started collecting the supplies she'd need for the tracking spell; for a moment, Anya looked as if she wanted to protest and maybe write a bill for the witch, but one look from Xander was enough to stop her, the ex-demon merely gritting her teeth in silence as she watched how Willow collected various herbs and powders.

"You got a map of the town here somewhere?" she asked as soon as she had everything she would need; nodding, Anya made her way to the counter and rummaged around there for a while, finally finding a map and handing it to the witch. Not wasting any time, Willow quickly made room for it on the table, then spread the map there; she asked the rest to stand a bit back, slightly embarrassed when she added that she wasn't sure if maybe, she'd mess up the spell due to her upset emotional state.

"Maybe we should wait a bit then", Buffy suggested, not liking the thought of her best friend doing magic when she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle it properly; immediately, Willow shook her head though, giving the Slayer a stern look when it seemed as if Buffy wanted to protest.

"My girlfriend's been turned into stone", she then stated, already focusing on the map, readying a bowl next to it and beginning to crumble the herbs into it, adding one of the powders she'd found every now and then, "I won't waste any time when it comes to finding out how to undo this…"

Figuring that it wouldn't be wise to argue with the redhead about this, Buffy kept quiet, merely moving a few steps away from the table; the rest did the same, Willow briefly making sure that they all stood far away enough before she took in a deep breath to focus, mumbling softly to herself afterwards.

"I hope she doesn't burn the store down", Anya whispered, throwing a nervous look at the bowl when smoke started to rise from it; if she had heard her, Willow didn't let it show, but kept mumbling to herself, the smoke rising from the bowl becoming thicker – before she suddenly grabbed it and emptied the contents over the map, the rest of the group flinching when the powders and herbs vanished into nothingness with an audible _whoomp _sound.

"Show me", the witch mumbled, closing her eyes as she felt the well-known power surge through her, "show me where he is…"

For a while, nothing happened, the map just lying on the table with the group looking at it expectantly; just when Buffy wanted to speak up and ask if something had gone wrong though, a small light started to glow on the paper, a slight smile appearing on the face of the redhead as she looked down on it.

"Gotcha", she smirked, memorizing the spot on the map where the man who had done this to her loved one had been located; Giles, being more practical, quickly wrote the address down, getting done just in time before the light puffed away and the map was back to its regular, non-magical appearance.

"He's not too far from here", Giles stated, holding the notebook out to the group so they could read the address, "we should be there in ten minutes afoot."

"So what are we waiting for then?" Buffy gave back, looking at her friends; in response, they all left the Magic Box together, Willow walking along next to Buffy in silence, asking herself if it really would be that easy as they made their way down the street – or if they would end up facing much more than just a vengeful guy who hadn't had an idea whom he had been dealing with.


	6. Chapter 6

"This should be it", Willow stated ten minutes later, standing in front of a white wooden door inside the rather shabby apartment building where her spell had located the attacker; suddenly feeling insecure, she turned to look at Buffy, her insecurity clearly showing through her voice as she spoke up. "So what do we do now? Do we just knock and wait for him to open…? We've never really been after a human before after all…"

"I don't think we have to knock", Buffy gave back, the redhead just having a second to wonder what she was talking about – before the Slayer already had taken a step back and had kicked the door, hard enough to make it fly open and bang against the wall.

"See?" she then smiled, gesturing at the now open door casually, "no need to knock…"

"I do hope we got the right apartment number", Giles commented dryly, giving the Slayer a slightly scolding look; shrugging it off, Buffy smiled sweetly at him, then entered the apartment, her smile fading away moments later.

"I think we got the right apartment", she carefully stated, turning to look at Willow; the expression in her eyes was enough to alarm the witch, and she quickly moved up to the Slayer, her eyes widening as her gaze fell on the petrified man standing in the hallway.

"Did he get another one…?" Xander asked behind the two women, craning his neck so he could see; slowly, Willow shook her head, her voice trembling when she answered him. "No… That's him…"

"That's the guy who did this?" Anya spoke up, sounding a bit shocked. "He turned himself to stone? How stupid!"

"Maybe he cut himself on accident?" Xander ventured, throwing a dismayed glance at the petrified guy; next to him, Giles shrugged, not sounding as if he cared all too much about the guy's fate as he responded. "Maybe he did, yes. I suggest we ignore him for now and search the apartment for the weapon he used, if he cut himself with it, it still has to be around and it might be helpful with finding the antidote."

"We won't give him any when we figured it out", Willow mumbled in response, moving past the statue without another look; briefly, Buffy and Giles exchanged worried glances, both of them once more noticing how eerily calm the witch sounded, something which was unnerving, especially in such a situation, where she should have been upset or even close to hysterics.

"We better keep an eye on her", the Slayer thus whispered to her Watcher, making him nod before they both moved past the statue as well, followed by Xander and Anya; for the next twenty minutes, the group searched the apartment as thoroughly as possible, something which wasn't made easier by the fact that it was rather messy, but to the dismay of everyone, they couldn't find the dagger.

"Give it up", Buffy finally sighed out, before someone else could suggest they'd start over with searching, knowing it wouldn't be of any use. "The dagger's not here… Which makes me doubt that he actually cut himself with it."

"I agree", Giles threw in, moving back into the hallway so he could take another, closer look at the statue there. "With the dagger gone and him in this state, it seems more likely that someone hired him to do this, and when the job was done… Well, you see the result here."

"So what do we do now?" Xander asked, eying the petrified man in the hallway for a moment before he turned to look at the Watcher. "With that guy all stony, we're kinda out of clues."

"Maybe I can find something out", the witch replied before anyone else had the chance to answer, moving up to the two men and eying the statue closely as well, the rest curiously waiting for her to go on. "Maybe the one who did this to that guy left some… imprint on him… Step back everyone please…"

Figuring that trying whatever it was Willow wanted to try was better than just standing there without having an idea what was going on, the group did so, watching how the redhead took in a deep breath, then reached up with both hands and grasped the statue's head, her voice soft, but loud enough to let the others hear when she spoke up again, mumbling "Reveal", her head snapping back into her neck a second later as the images and sounds started to flood her mind with unexpected force.

…_there, gotta be him, gonna get my payment now, took care of that woman for him, so he'll pay me now, promised he'd make me immortal, can't wait, there we go now, oh God what is he doing, it's that dagger again, oh no he can't, no he can't do this to me, oh God this hurts, never would have thought it'd hurt so much, can't move anymore, can't see, what is happening to me, can't move can't see can't hear can't feel can't shout gotta shout oh God oh God oh God someone help me please please someone help me PLEASE…_

With a strangled cry, Willow forced her hands away from the statue by using what felt like all of her willpower and physical strength; for a second, she stood stiff as a statue herself, then slumped to her knees as all her energy drained out of her all at once, causing Buffy to let out a startled noise before she rushed to her friend's side, nearly knocking Giles over in the process.

"Willow!" she almost snapped, grabbing the shoulders of the witch, relief surging through her when the redhead looked at her in response, still seeming slightly dazed.

"What happened? What did you see?" the Slayer demanded to know, not having the slightest doubt that the spell hadn't worked out – the way Willow had grit her teeth while she had been clutching the statue and how she had fallen down afterwards had made it more than obvious that the spell had worked just as it had been supposed to, maybe even better than that.

"He's still in there", Willow finally brought out, her voice trembling as she stared at the statue with wide eyes. "He's still in there, he's conscious and… and I think he's going insane…"

"Well, that wouldn't be surprising", Giles commented, missing the warning look Buffy shot him. "Considering that he's been turned to stone, his mind has been robbed of all sensory input, so… Oh."

With that, he fell silent as he realized that the man in front of them wasn't the only one who had been turned to stone; in response, Willow just stared at the statue for a while, then came to her feet with surprising strength, her voice back to the eerie calm sound when she spoke up again. "He's been hired to do this, so we better get to work and find out who hired him… Before Pat remains in that state for too long and goes insane as well."

"Try to look on the bright side", Anya quipped, the rest shooting her a horrified glance since usually, her attempts to cheer someone up didn't work out that well, "at least you know now she's still alive in there. And she's a demon, so she should have a higher tolerance towards insanity than this guy. Or maybe she didn't remain conscious, because she's a demon. You never know."

"Did you see who hired him?" Buffy demanded to know before Willow could respond to the ex-demon's tries to cheer her best friend up; now looking dismayed again, the witch shook her head in response, throwing another worried glance at the statue beside her before she answered. "No… His mind was too… jumbled… to let me see anything…"

"We'll come up with something else", the Slayer promised her in reply, placing a tender hand on her shoulder and turning her towards the door leading outside of the small apartment, "but now let's go… There's nothing else we can do here."

Nodding, Willow let it happen that Buffy led her out of the apartment; the rest of the group followed, and together, they left the apartment building, heading back to the Magic Box, everyone of them pondering what was going on and what they could do to find the one who was the cause for all this.

* * *

An hour and a half later, enough research had been done to narrow the possibility of which poison might have been used down to three; thanks to the fact that Willow had found out about the petrified guy still being conscious, this had been considerably easier, and the redhead allowed herself to get her hopes up again when she had learned that two of those three possibilities could be reversed, telling herself that this heightened their chances of undoing the horrible thing which had happened to her girlfriend. Deep inside, she knew that someone who was cruel enough to use a poison which turned the victim to stone, but left them conscious, also might be cruel enough to use the one which made the effect irreversible; she didn't allow herself to dwell on those thoughts though, instead focusing on the antidotes the books Giles had provided were listing.

"Can't we just get them all and try them?" Anya demanded to know, sighing when both Willow and Giles shook their head in perfect unison.

"That might have dire effects", the Watcher pointed out in response to the pout Anya displayed at their negation, "if we use the wrong antidote, it could make the process permanent, or destroy the stone… I assume we all know what that means."

"I'm more worried about Pat's sanity, to be honest", Buffy sighed out in reply, giving Willow an apologetic look before she spoke on, knowing that she was only saying out loud what everyone else – including the redhead – was worried about. "What if we find the antidote, and it works… And she's gone insane? She's a demon, almost as strong as me, and if she really lost her mind by the time we manage to undo this…"

She trailed off, throwing the witch a helpless glance, finding herself unable to say what the consequence of this might be, the redhead surprising her a second later by finishing the sentence for her. "If she's lost her mind and has become… dangerous… you might have to kill her. Right?"

"Yes", the Slayer mumbled after a few seconds of silence; Willow just looked at her for a while, then nodded, once more sounding eerily calm as she replied. "We'll see once the antidote has been found… But for now, guys, I just wanna go back to her… See if she's… alright…"

"How can she not be", Anya frowned, once more proving that so far, she hadn't grasped the simple concept of tact, "she's made of stone! It's not as if…"

The look Xander shot her finally made her fall quiet, and she cleared her throat; Willow just gave her a rather blank look in reply, then asked Buffy to call her in case anything came up, the Slayer nodding her head in reply and giving her best friend a reassuring smile, rising from her chair as well and patting the other woman's shoulder tenderly.

"I'll go and ask our favourite vampire if he knows anything after sundown", she promised in a low voice, knowing that both Giles and Xander weren't all too fond of her going to the vampire, no matter what it was for. "I'll call you as soon as I'm back in the dorm, ok?"

"Alright", Willow gave back, thankful that Buffy wouldn't try to talk her out of staying at Pat's place with the petrified demon; she gave the Slayer a weak smile, then turned and left, the rest looking after her in silence, wondering if she was just putting on a façade so she wouldn't worry them – or if she was on her way back to the dark side, the eerie calmness she had displayed being just the first step on the path which would lead her back into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

Time seemed to have lost all meaning to Willow as she sat in the by now dark apartment, next to her petrified lover; for the last few hours, she had been in this position, looking at the statue, from time to time reaching out and touching the cold stone, alternately thinking of the pleasant eight months she had spent with the demon and of the effect all of this might have on her psyche.

_How long can a mind handle it to be like this? _she morbidly thought to herself as she looked at the stony face of her loved one, remembering how often she had kissed those lips and how good it always had made her feel. _How long until the mind turns on itself and insanity starts? _

The thought of everything working out when it came to finding the man who was the cause for all this and getting the antidote, only to find out her lover had become incurably insane, was almost too much to bear for the redhead; still she forced those thoughts out of her mind, telling herself that she had to be strong for this and that she could cross that bridge when she reached it.

"You'll be fine, right?" she softly spoke, focusing on the stony figure next to her again, gently running her hand over the strands of hair, shuddering at how cold and hard the stone felt, compared to how warm and soft that hair usually was. "We'll find that antidote… Or a spell to undo this… And then you'll be fine…"

For a moment, she felt like doing what she had done to the other statue, back in the apartment; she knew that she'd be able to get a glimpse of Pat's mind just like she had gotten one of the other guy, then she decided against it, telling herself that as long as she didn't know for sure, she could keep up the hope that everything would be fine and that her lover wasn't spiralling into madness this very moment.

The sound of the phone ringing distracted her from her ponderings, and she forced herself to get up, grimacing when her legs tingled annoyingly and telling herself that, when she'd sit down again, she'd do it in a way that wouldn't make her limbs fall asleep; managing not to fall down though, she made her way to the phone and picked up the receiver, already knowing who'd be on the other end of the line when she spoke up. "Hello?"

"It's me", Buffy greeted her, her voice being just what Willow had been expecting to her when she had answered the call. "Spike doesn't know anything, not yet, but he promised he'd keep his ears open and contact me immediately once he hears something…"

"This might take too long", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment, taking in a deep breath before she spoke on. "That guy… Buffy, when I looked into his mind… He wasn't in this state for even a day and he's insane. Anya might have been right when she said that Pat maybe will hold on longer than that, but… I don't know how much longer…"

"I know", Buffy replied, giving her best to sound gentle as she continued. "And I promise we'll find this guy as fast as possible…"

"How?" Willow demanded to know in reply, the sudden fierceness in her voice surprising the Slayer. "We have no idea who he is, or where he is, or why he did this", the redhead went on, clenching her free hand into a fist as she tried to keep the anger down, knowing where it might lead if she gave in to it. "And by now, Spike is known to help the Slayer every now and then, so I honestly doubt he'll find out anything. Buffy, we can't just sit around and wait for the answer to fall into our laps…"

"I know", Buffy sighed out, not knowing what she could tell her friend to calm her down. "And I understand you, Willow, really… But for now, there isn't much we can do, without any clues or leads… I promise that, as soon as the tiniest thing comes up, I'll do everything I can to find this guy, I know how much she means to you…"

"Then you'll understand I can't just sit around here and wait for something to happen", the redhead gave back after a few seconds of silence, Buffy's eyes going wide as she heard the tone of her best friend's voice, the sudden coldness and determination.

"Willow, no", she immediately gave back, hoping she'd be able to talk the redhead out of this before it'd be too late. "You can't… You have no idea where to start looking, or for whom, you can't just randomly do a spell and hope it'll work out! You know what happened the last time you tried to use such strong magic…"

"I'll have to take that risk", the witch replied, the sound of her voice causing goose bumps to form on the Slayer's arms.

"Willow", she tried again, despite her worries that by now, nothing she could say would change the redhead's mind, "don't do that, please… What if you can't handle it? What if you go all… scary and veiny again?"

"Evil, you mean?" Willow replied bluntly, making Buffy wince slightly in response. "Well… Guess I'll just have to see if it happens", the witch added, obviously not caring much about the possibility. "It's a risk I'll gladly take if it means I'll get her back healthy and well."

"At least let Giles supervise you", Buffy made one last desperate attempt to stop this, not really surprised when Willow simply responded "No" – before she hung up the phone, her mind made up now, ignoring it when the phone started to ring again as she made her way into the bedroom where she had stored some supplies for witchcraft, convincing herself that this was necessary and that it was the right thing to do.

* * *

It didn't take her long to prepare everything, all her attention focused on what she had to do; not long after she had gotten the supplies she'd need, she was sitting in the middle of the circle she had formed with several black candles, forcing herself to breathe slowly and calmly as she began her spell.

She knew that it was dark magic she was doing, and that she had vowed to herself that she'd never use such spells again; all of this was ignored though as she started chanting, calling to dark gods and goddesses, asking them for their help with finding the one who had done this to the woman she loved. Even though all windows and doors were closed, a breeze soon came up in the apartment, making the candles flicker, the shadows on the wall dancing and moving much more than they should; it didn't take long until the breeze turned into a strong wind as Willow continued to chant, black shapes which had been shadows not all too long ago moving on the wall and then away from it, approaching the redhead with startling speed.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she went on chanting, her voice rising so it'd still be heard over the howling of the wind, the noise it was creating sounding more like humming voices than like simple wind every now and then; and then, the shadows reached her, her eyes flying open as they made contact, all colour gone from them as they were filled with darkness, a malicious smile curling her lips as she finally knew where to go and what to do.

* * *

The man who had done all this didn't seem surprised at all when the heavy iron door of the crypt he had chosen as his hiding place got blown to pieces and Willow entered; powered by the spell she had casted and the strength the dark gods she had called out to had granted her, she didn't simply walk up to him, but floated a good twenty centimetres above the stony ground, her blackened gaze focused on the man lounging on the heavy granite slab which covered up some strangers last resting place.

"I've been expecting you", he stated before she had the chance to say anything; this surprised her enough to stop her from floating and to bring her down the ground, the man giving her a smile while he elegantly jumped off the granite, dusting off his clothes while he took a few steps closer to her. "To be honest, you took longer than I thought you would… I was quite convinced you'd end up here an hour or so after you found your loved one all… hardened."

"Tell me how to undo it, or I'll kill you were you stand", Willow replied, ignoring the fact that he had been waiting for her; he just chuckled in reply, then shook his head, causally stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants as he answered her.

"Now, now", he smirked, the calm sound of his voice infuriating Willow to levels she never would have thought possible, "that would be a bit too easy, wouldn't it? I'll gladly tell you… After you did me a favour, of course."

"A favour", Willow echoed, making him nod, the insolent smirk still on his face; he took a few more steps closer to her, obviously not scared the slightest, despite the fact that the air around her was practically crackling with power. "Of course… You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Metaphorically speaking, of course. No worries though, my pretty little redhead, I won't ask much from you…"

"Spit it out", Willow pressed out between grit teeth, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear; her anger was burning brightly, and it took almost all of her self-control to keep herself from just smashing that guy into the wall, but she told herself that she could at least listen to him, knowing that it'd be even harder to come back out of this darkness if she'd kill this insolent person.

"It should be an easy thing to do, for a witch as powerful as you", the guy gave back, smiling at her pleasantly, as if they were having mindless small talk at some cocktail party, his next words making the witch's eyes go wide. "All I want you to do is to kill the Slayer."


	8. Chapter 8

"I know it's a tough choice I'm giving you", he continued when Willow didn't reply anything, giving her another pleasant smile. "Kill your best friend or leave your lover the way she is? Destroy the Slayer completely before she dies, facing such a betrayal from her best friend, or living with a handsome statue from now on? Apart from the fact that the death of the Slayer would turn this nice town into a playground for vampires and other hellish beasts… But you'd have your girlfriend to protect you. Right? So what will it be?"

"How about I just torture you until you give me the antidote?" Willow gave back after a moment of silence, satisfied when the man's eyes widened briefly, not long as he quickly regained his composure, but long enough to let her notice.

"Oh please", he smirked, obviously giving his best to appear as if he wasn't taking her seriously, "you're too kind-hearted for that… I did my research before I came here and came up with this amazing little scheme."

"I'm afraid you didn't do it well enough", Willow replied, casually flicking her hand at him afterwards – and causing him to fly through the air as something which felt like an invisible truck hit him, the wall stopping him rather harshly, a groan escaping him as he fell to the ground. "If you did, you'd know that I skinned a man alive… The one who killed someone very dear to me back then. After driving a bullet into his chest very, very slowly. And you really think I wouldn't torture you?"

With those words, she pointed her index finger at him, then moved her hand upwards, a strangled cry escaping the man as he was lifted off the ground and ended up pressed flat against the ceiling, unable to move the slightest, the witch looking up at him with a slight smile on her face.

"How's the air up there?" she then asked, now with the same pleasant tone of voice he had used when he had spoken about the price for the antidote. "If you don't like it, I can create a vacuum around you… But then of course you'd die."

"If you kill me, you'll never know about the antidote", he pressed out in reply, even speaking being hard for him, with the mental grip Willow was using to keep him up against the ceiling.

"Oh, I don't know", the witch shrugged, starting to walk up and down slowly, looking around the rather dingy and dusty crypt, then up at her captive again, giving him a smile which made his blood run cold. "Somehow, I believe that you're keeping it here… Maybe in one of your pockets, or hidden here somewhere. I guess I could just do a tiny little spell and it'd float right to me… But, you see, I had to step on the dark side again to gain the power I'd need for this, so this seems too… easy. On you."

And with those words, her smile vanished, her eyes narrowing; the blink of an eye later, he fell, smashing to the ground hard enough to cause a cloud of dust to rise around him, invisible hands grabbing him and forcing him up against the wall before he could try to get to his feet again.

"Maybe I don't even need the antidote", she let him know casually, giving him another smile, a gasp escaping him when something seemed to grasp his intestines and give them a good squeeze, pain flaring up in his body. "Maybe I can undo it with a spell… Oh, and what you just felt, that was just a little taste of what I'm capable of right now. Still think I'm too kind-hearted to torture you?"

"N-no", he had to admit after a few seconds, crying out when he felt that awful sensation in his gut again. "Please stop!" he then added, panting; smiling, Willow loosened her grip on him, taking a few steps closer to him, making sure he wouldn't be able to move as she reached up and touched his by now sweaty cheek.

"I think it's time to negotiate again", she stated, giving him another pleasant smile. "You tell me where you keep the antidote… _now_… And then you'll leave this town, and never come back. I'll know if you stick around, believe me… Do we have a deal?"

"Deal", he pressed out in response, by now clearly scared out of his mind, unable to believe that his plan had backfired like that, but not doubting anymore that the witch would kill him if he did as much as moving a finger the wrong way – and that it'd be a slow and painful death.

"It's in my pants pocket", he added, gulping heavily afterwards, the mere action of speaking costing him as much energy as if he was running a marathon with some chubby guy on his back. "The front one… On the right side…"

In response, Willow looked at said pocket; moments later, the fabric started to bulge as the small bottle moved upwards and out of it, the witch casually picking it out of the air as it floated towards her.

"P-put it on where he cut her", the man informed her helpfully, sounding as if he was close to pissing his pants by now, "i-it should w-work quickly…"

"It better does", the redhead gave back, smiling sweetly at him again before she turned around and started to move towards the exit, her captive's eyes going wide as he realized he still couldn't move. "Oh", Willow turned towards him again just as she reached the exit, now floating again to avoid the pieces of iron on the floor, "that paralysis will wear off in three or four hours. Just in case you didn't tell me the truth…"

She gave him another smile, then made her way out the crypt, the man remaining where he was and staring after her, his eyes still filled with fear so big it was almost terror, all he could think about being how it had felt when she had squeezed his intestines, something he never wanted to experience again for the rest of his life.

* * *

"Willow!" Buffy's voice reached her ears the moment she stepped out of the elevator, the alarmed sound of the Slayer's voice causing the redhead to look into the direction it had come from immediately; it didn't surprise her that Buffy was standing in front of the door leading to Pat's apartment, her expression a mixture of annoyance and worry. "Are you alright? Where have you been? What did you do? You didn't get all veiny and scary again, right? Are you evil now? Do you want to end the world again? How could you do this? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

For a moment, the redhead rose an eyebrow, briefly glad that by now, her eyes had returned to their normal colour – the spell she had casted was wearing off, and she knew she'd pay the price for it soon, in the form of tremendous exhaustion, but still she wanted to get into the apartment and use the antidote before this would happen.

"Yes, at the cemetery, got the antidote, no, no, no, I just had to, I'm sorry." she thus answered all the questions quickly; momentarily stunned, Buffy blinked, the witch using the time her best friend needed to puzzle it out by quickly speaking on. "I'm sorry, Buffy, really, but I didn't know what else to do… And it worked! I got the antidote, and the guy who was behind all this promised to leave town!"

"Who was he?" Buffy demanded to know in reply, now making it the witch's turn to blink – before she blushed slightly, making it clear to the Slayer that she had been honest when she had claimed she hadn't gone evil again.

"I… kinda forgot to ask", she mumbled, shuffling her feet, obviously embarrassed. "I was too busy threatening him with painful death and torture and getting the antidote…"

"That's okay", Buffy reassured her after a moment, giving her a calming smile, "I'm just glad it worked out and you didn't turn all evil again…"

"So am I", Willow gave back, digging out her keys to the demon's apartment afterwards and unlocking the door; together with Buffy, she entered, making her way to where her petrified lover still was kneeling, her heart hammering faster and faster with every step she took.

"Let's hope this works", she mumbled to herself while she removed the small bottle with the antidote from her pocket and carefully uncorking it, not wanting to spill a drop. Since the bandage had stayed in place when Pat had turned to stone, without being effected as well, it was easy for her to find the spot where she had to apply the antidote; she took in another deep breath, then carefully let the light green substance drip on the cut after she had removed the bandage, Buffy watching in breathless silence as well. It didn't take long until the bottle had been emptied, making Willow wonder how this was supposed to work as the antidote was merely running down the stone; then, it suddenly started to steam, bubbling not too long afterwards, a crackling noise filling the air and causing the redhead to move back, fear suddenly filling her that she'd been lied to after all and that the stone would explode any second.

Automatically, she raised her hand when the crackling increased, squeezing her eyes shut, Buffy doing the same next to her; when no explosion came though, the crackling merely fading away slowly, Willow dared to look again – only to have her eyes go wide a second later as her gaze fell on Pat kneeling on the floor, looking alive and well, just as she had before the redhead had found her in this dreadful state.

"Pat!" she cried out, the sound of her voice making Buffy open her eyes again as well, a gasp escaping her when she saw that the antidote had worked just the way it should have; suddenly feeling close to tears, the redhead moved closer to her loved one, touching her hand tenderly, slowly making the demon raise her head and look at her. The moment her eyes met Willow's, the redhead froze, staring at her in disbelief; next to her, Buffy threw her a worried glance, then looked at Pat again, her voice sounding concerned as she spoke up, her gaze jumping back and forth between the witch and the demon. "What is it, Willow? What's wrong?"

"Anya was wrong", Willow brought out in reply, her voice trembling as fresh tears filled her eyes, the confused and lost expression in her lover's eyes breaking her heart. "She was conscious, just like that other guy, the whole time… She was conscious in there, and she's gone insane…"


	9. Chapter 9

"Here", Buffy spoke up a short time later, entering the leaving room with a steaming mug in one hand, carefully approaching the sofa Pat was sitting on, the witch right next to her, holding her hand and caressing her hair tenderly. "This should help you with calming down… Plus, making the tea gave me something to do, so…"

"Thanks", Willow mumbled in reply, accepting the cup and taking a careful sip of it, her gaze never leaving the woman beside her.

"Is she still…?" Buffy carefully asked, making Willow nod; the voice of the Slayer made Pat look at her, her voice solemn when she spoke up. "Seven downward slopes, seven bloodied hopes, seven are your burning fires, seven your desires."

"What?" the Slayer replied, flabbergasted; next to her, Willow sighed, then shrugged, giving the blonde woman a pained look. "All she's saying is stuff like that… I have no idea what it means, it doesn't make sense…"

Next to her, Pat chuckled to herself, as if what the witch had said was incredibly funny; she tried to get up from the couch, but the redhead held her back, not wanting her to run around the apartment in her state and maybe hurt herself.

"No, Sweetie, stay here", Willow cooed, giving her best to keep the black haired woman from jumping up, glad when it finally worked and the demon let herself fall back into the couch; giving her a calming smile, Willow started to caress her hair again, then looked at Buffy, the helpless expression in her eyes nearly breaking the blonde woman's heart.

"I don't know what to do", the redhead brought out, suddenly sounding close to tears again while next to her, Pat started to play with one of the sofa cushions, unimpressed by her girlfriend nearly crying next to her, something which never would have happened before she had been poisoned and turned to stone. "I don't know how to help her through this… Or if she'll ever be fine again… Oh, God…"

"Shhht", Buffy tried to give some comfort, knowing it could never be enough, but moving to sit next to her best friend so she could embrace her anyway, holding the witch close to herself when she started to cry. "Maybe Giles will be able to figure something out", she added, soothingly rubbing the shaking back of the redhead, "some… some potion… Or maybe you can do a spell, like you did when Glory stole Tara's mind!"

"This is not the same", Willow sobbed in reply, her voice muffled since she had buried her face in Buffy's shoulder, her tears wetting the shirt of the blonde. "When Glory did this to Tara, she… she absorbed what she took from her into her own mind… So I could get it back from there, and return it to Tara… But… There's no one who stole this from Pat… Giles was right, with no sensory input… Just imagine it, not being able to hear or see, nothing… Each second must have felt like eternity for her… Oh God, if we'd only been faster…"

Her voice cracked at the last words, causing Buffy to tighten her embrace around the redhead; helplessly, Willow clung to her, heavy sobs racking her body as she fully realized what had happened to her lover – and that maybe, it never would be undone, the thought that she'd lose Pat after all, after everything she'd done, shattering her heart in a thousand pieces.

* * *

In the next morning, both Buffy and Willow blew off their classes, the two agreeing that meeting Giles in the Magic Box as early as possible was more important; to make sure that nothing would happen during the night, Buffy had spent the night at Pat's place, sleeping on the couch, waking up to the sounds the redhead was making while preparing breakfast, Pat sitting at the kitchen table and watching her, mumbling to herself.

"Did she… sleep properly during the night?" the Slayer asked while she joined the two in the kitchen, throwing the demon a concerned look before she moved a bit closer so she'd be able to make out what Pat was saying. "…of what you hold… Darkness come alive…"

"She did", Willow distracted her from listening to the ramblings of the black haired woman, a weak smile on the redhead's face when Buffy look at her. "The moment her head touched the pillow, she was fast asleep… She mumbled to herself a few times, like she's doing now, but I couldn't make out what she was saying…"

"It's not making much sense now, either", Buffy muttered, moving over to the witch and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "But I'm sure Giles will work something out… You know how good he is with such things…"

Nodding, Willow took in a deep breath, not wanting to cry again – she had done so enough last night, in Buffy's arms at first, then in the bedroom when she had tried to snuggle up to the demon and the only reaction had been some incoherent mumbling, her loved one not even realizing that she had been there.

"Breakfast's done", she stated to distract herself from that painful memory, gesturing at the scrambled eggs she'd made; eager to help her, Buffy got some clean plates from the cupboard, apportioning the food on them before she put them down on the table, the redhead adding forks – only to freeze a second later as Pat immediately picked hers up and started to munch down the scrambled eggs, still mumbling to herself between bites.

"Well", the Slayer spoke up after watching the demon munch down breakfast for a minute, while Willow prepared a cup of tea for her loved one, grimacing to herself as she threw in the three sugar cubes she know Pat would've insisted on, had she been sane, "at least you don't have to feed her…"

For a moment, she was afraid that she had spoken too fast and without much thought, and that the witch might be offended with her; to her relief, Willow just nodded though, then threw her a hopeful glance, the sight once more nearly breaking the Slayer's heart. "Maybe this means she's… a bit better than Tara was…?"

"Could be", Buffy replied after a moment, giving the redhead a reassuring smile; deep inside, she wasn't sure if this actually meant that Pat was less insane than Willow's late lover had been after Glory had attacked her, but she couldn't bring herself to tell the redhead this, not wanting to be the cause for this tiny glimmer of hope vanishing into nothingness.

"Let's see what Giles will say", she added while at the table, Pat got done with eating and burped heartily, obediently drinking the tea Willow had made for her when the redhead put the cup down in front of her. "I'm sure he'll figure something out…"

"I hope so", the witch sighed in reply, then gave her lover a tender smile while she took a gentle hold of her hand; she briefly informed Buffy that she'd help Pat to get dressed, then left the kitchen with her, her own portion of the food untouched, the blonde woman looking after her with a small sigh escaping her, her heart heavy with worry for both Willow and her loved one as she tried not to think about what might happen if Giles wouldn't have an idea how to help the demon.

The trip to the Magic Box went by uneventfully, Pat trotting along obediently, from time to time mumbling some of her nonsense to herself; still Willow made sure not to let go of her lover's hand even for a second, not wanting her to wander off and maybe get run over by a car or something similar, equally bad.

* * *

When the trio arrived at the Magic Box, Giles and Anya were already there, the ex-demon busy with some task behind the counter while the Watcher was sitting at the table they usually used for their Scoobie meetings, several books stacked in front of him; since Dawn had to go to school and Xander was needed at his construction site, the two hadn't come, but for once, Willow was glad about this, not wanting them to see her girlfriend in her current state.

"Here you are", Giles stated as he saw them enter, putting the book he had been reading on the table in front of him before he rose from his seat; he eyed Pat briefly for a moment, then asked Willow to make the demon sit down at the table, the redhead obeying him quickly, taking a seat as well next to her girlfriend while Buffy sat down next to the witch, figuring that Giles would want to be close to the demon so he'd be able to check on her properly.

The Watcher didn't sit back down immediately though, but simply watched the demon for a while, taking off his glasses and cleaning them while Willow forced herself to sit still, fighting down the urge to shift around on her seat; finally, Giles took his seat again, looking at Pat, his voice calm and gentle when he spoke up, saying the demon's name and making her look at him, none of them sure if she had reacted to her name being spoken or simply to the sound of the Watcher's voice. "Do you know who I am?"

"Shadows on the wall, voices down the hall", she mumbled in reply, causing Giles to rise an eyebrow, Willow giving him an apologetic look in reply before she spoke up, making the demon look at her again. "Sorry, all she says is stuff like that… I'm not sure if it has any meaning, some of it seems familiar…"

"Maybe you should try searching for the phrases on the internet some time", the Watcher suggested in reply, forcing Willow to hold back the urge to slap herself on the forehead, the witch finding it hard to believe that she hadn't thought of this as well; noticing her dismay about this, Giles gave her a calming smile, then focused on the demon again, making her look back at him by saying her name once more.

"Do you know where you are?" he asked as soon as he had her attention again – at least the little bit of attention she could give him, in her current state; she looked at him for a while in response, then obviously lost interest, since she rose from her chair rather unexpectedly, Willow getting up as well to stop her, only to slump back down when Giles shook his head. "Let her… There's no use in doing this, she's too far gone to understand me…"

"Can you… do something about this?" Willow dared to ask, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer; her heart sank when Giles gave her a serious look in reply, his voice reassuring as he spoke up, his gaze never leaving the one of the witch. "I wish I could tell you I can… But I'm not sure. I'll try, I promise, but…"

"Do you think there's some kind of spell I could do?" Willow hazarded in reply, not willing to accept that there might be a chance of failure, that her lover might have to spend the rest of her life like this. "Maybe that forgetting spell", she went on, throwing Giles a pleading look, silently begging him to tell her that this would work and that things would be alright then, her heart sinking when the Watcher shook his head in reply.

"I strongly advise you not to do that", he then stated, giving her a concerned look, obviously worried that she wouldn't heed his advice. "Technically, I assume you could delete the twenty-four hours she's spent petrified from her mind, but… You don't know how long it seemed for her, so it might not be enough. And if you try to make her forget more than that, she could forget… everything."

"So what will we do?" the redhead demanded to know after a moment, to the Watcher's relief obviously dropping the idea of casting the forgetting spell; feeling slightly helpless, he took his glasses off again to clean them once more, ignoring the fact that they were perfectly clean.

"I'll look up some spells and potions", he finally told the witch, throwing a glance at Pat as he spoke on, the demon by now having wandered to one of the shelves and looking at it with great interest, Anya biting her tongue to hold back a remark about how she'd make Willow pay for anything her lover might break. "Can you take care of her until I found something? I hope it won't take too long, but…"

"You can't tell for sure", the redhead finished for him, a small sigh escaping her before she looked at her lover as well, her gaze softening visibly the moment it fell on the demon. "And of course I can take care of her… I'll have to skip classes so she won't be alone, but that's okay…"

"Good then", the Watcher agreed, giving the witch another reassuring smile afterwards, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder tenderly. "I'm sure things will be fine", he told her, knowing that he was lying to her, but just like Buffy not bringing himself to tell her what he really thought, namely that he wasn't half as sure as he pretended to be; smiling weakly, Willow nodded in response, then got up from her chair and moved over to the demon, gently taking her hand and pulling her away from the shelf she had been staring at.

"Come on", she softly spoke to her girlfriend, "let's go back home…"

"I want the night just to colour the day", Pat let her know in reply, sounding as solemn as if she was telling her about one of the world's greatest secrets, "the morning to chase all my nightmares away…"

"Of course", the redhead agreed, not sure what else to say; Pat gave her a smile in reply, Willow's heart clenching up again at the sight, reminded of how the demon had smiled at her before all of this had happened, how warm and loving her smiles always had been.

"Want me to come along?" Buffy now offered, speaking up for the first time since she had arrived here with Willow and Pat, making the witch look at her, a sheepish smile appearing on the blonde's face as she spoke on. "Just in case something… happens…"

"Just in case Pat tries to attack me, you mean?" Willow clarified bluntly, momentarily even surprising Anya; holding her gaze, the Slayer nodded, and after a moment, the redhead sighed and agreed, realizing that it was naïve to believe that Pat wouldn't harm her – this had been true when her loved one still had been sane, but in her current state, it was impossible to tell what might happen or what she might do.

"Let's go then", the Slayer smiled, glad that her best friend hadn't been offended by her offer; she quickly said goodbye to Anya and Giles, then hurried over to where Willow was waiting, leaving the Magic Box with the witch and the demon half a minute later, the group walking back to the apartment in silence as both Willow and Buffy pondered Giles' chances to succeed – and what they might do if no cure was found.


	10. Chapter 10

Once they had arrived at Pat's apartment again, Willow asked her best friend to have an eye on the demon while she'd do what Giles had suggested about her mutterings, namely search the internet for them; as soon as she sat in front of the computer, she had to realize though that her mind had drawn a blank, not a single one of the phrases Pat had used during the day coming to her mind.

For a while, she just stared at the search engine, then gave up; she knew that this was caused by her emotional distress about the whole situation, but this didn't make accepting it any easier, and she grumbled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen, where Buffy was preparing a snack for them and Pat was sitting at the kitchen table, looking distraught.

"Did something happen?" the redhead immediately asked as she noticed the facial expression of her girlfriend; turning to look at her, Buffy shook her head, sounding slightly helpless when she replied. "No, nothing that I know of… She just started looking that way when she sat down…"

Concerned, Willow moved over to the demon and crouched next to her, softly speaking her name; in response, Pat looked at her, still with that dismayed expression on her face, the redhead noticing how her feet were tapping the floor, a movement which was all too familiar to her, her eyes going wide as she realized what it meant.

"Withdrawal", she stated, causing Buffy to look at her again, one of the Slayer's eyebrows wandering up. "Even in that state, she wants a cigarette. Can't believe it."

"Let her have one", the blonde woman suggested, shrugging when Willow threw her a dismayed glance. "What? She's bad enough as it is, no need to make it even worse for her…"

"You're right", the witch had to admit after a moment, sighing to herself before she got up again and made her way to the windowsill, where a pack of cigarettes and a lighter laid next to an ashtray; she made a disgusted face, then lit the cigarette up quickly, coughing to herself while she carried the ashtray to the table and put it down in front of Pat, putting the cigarette between her index and middle finger afterwards.

Just like when she had eaten breakfast, the demon immediately knew what to do with it and how to use it; she took a long drag of it, the distraught expression vanishing from her face, her voice sounding strangely content when she looked at Willow and spoke up. "At the mercy of the cold and hollow, I withdrew into my sanctuary of silence…"

Repeating the words to herself, the redhead hurried back to the living room and the computer there, after Buffy had reassured her she'd take care of Pat so the demon wouldn't burn the house down on accident; hurriedly, she typed the phrase into the search engine, then hit Enter, surprised at the results which came up at the screen moments later. Now finally able to remember some of the other phrases Pat had used, she repeated the process with them, not finding anything different from the first search result though; shaking her head to herself, she returned to the kitchen, shrugging when Buffy gave her a curious look.

"No hidden messages in her rambling", she then sighed, sitting down next to the demon and watching her smoke. "She's quoting metal songs… Should have known that, she's listening to that stuff all the time…"

She sighed again, then carefully reached out and took the cigarette from her girlfriend, since by now, Pat had smoked it almost all the way down the filter; to her relief, the demon didn't try to stop her, merely watching how the redhead put the cigarette out before she started playing with the hem of her shirt, mumbling to herself again, chuckling from time to time for no apparent reason.

With her heart growing heavy again, Buffy watched how Willow reached out and tenderly caressed the demon's hair, no reaction coming from the other woman though; forcing back the urge to clench her fists, Buffy turned towards the snacks she had been preparing again, hoping that whoever had done this really had left town, as he had promised Willow he would, not sure what she would do to him for this if she'd ever get her hands on him.

* * *

During the next week, Giles came up with several spells and potions to cure Pat and to give her back her sanity, none of them having the desired effect though; except for one potion, the stuff they gave her to drink and the spells Willow performed had no effect at all, and the only thing the one potion to which the demon did react caused was that she farted heavily for several hours, something which seemed to amuse her greatly, but forced Willow to keep the windows open until the effect had passed.

The only things she kept saying were the quotes from various metal songs, sometimes strangely fitting the situation, sometimes having no apparent connection to what was going on at all; every now and then, she'd start crying for no reason, the redhead always giving her best to comfort her then, even if she had no idea what the reason for her lover's tears was. Just like when Tara had been in a similar state of mind, the witch showed endless patience with her girlfriend, giving her best to always make her comfortable and figure out the needs the demon might have; it was a bit easier than it had been with Tara, since Pat at least could eat and drink on her own, and went to sleep whenever Willow told her to, even if it was in the middle of the afternoon and she technically shouldn't be tired.

The nights passed uneventfully as well, the demon slumbering beside her girlfriend, not reacting to Willow snuggling up to her or to the redhead holding her close; still the witch did this every night, finding herself unable to sleep without at least one hand resting on her loved one's back or with her head on the taller woman's shoulder, the lack of reaction from Pat still hurting her, the young woman telling herself again and again though that the demon didn't mean to hurt her and that it wasn't done intentionally.

Usually, it took her a while during those seven days and nights to fall asleep, her mind always running wild as she laid in bed, pondering what she would do if Pat never would regain her sanity; once she had fallen asleep though, she usually slumbered through the night peacefully, only waking up if the demon moved too far away from her during the night and she had to snuggle closer again.

Thus, it wasn't surprising her when she got torn out of her sleep during the eighth night since she had used the antidote on her lover; at first she thought that Pat simply had moved to the edge of the bed again, sleepily reaching out to pull her back so she wouldn't fall out, her eyes almost flying open a second later though as she realized that the other side of the bed was empty. With her heart suddenly hammering in her chest, she sat up, whispering "Pat…?" into the darkness of the bedroom; outside, a bolt of lightning flashed up, illuminating the bedroom just long enough to let her see the demon standing at the window, looking outside, the expression on her face strangely thoughtful, something Willow hadn't seen at all during the last several days.

"Pat?" she tried again, getting out of bed and moving over to her, tenderly touching her arm, not wanting to startle her; surprisingly quick, the demon looked at her, her voice serious as she replied, her words making the redhead's heart beat even faster. "I hear the storm outside… First drop just hit the roof…"

"Yes, there's a storm", Willow agreed, not sure what to think of this – even if the words of the demon sometimes had been strangely fitting during the last week, it never had been like this.

"Do you want to go outside…?" she thus added, ignoring the fact that by now, it had started to rain rather heavily; in response, Pat looked out the window again, all at once sounding heartbroken and lost as she replied, her words clenching up the redhead's heart. "I'd die to see the rain… but I can't… move…"

"Of course you can", Willow reassured her, asking herself if this was the moment she had been hoping for, some sort of breakthrough the potions and spells hadn't been able to accomplish. "Come on", she added, tenderly leading the demon away from the window and to her wardrobe, "let's get you dressed and then we'll go outside… Okay?"

"Time stays still", the demon replied, obediently putting on the clothes Willow was handing her, "only I can feel when the darkness will appear… Please, please take away my fear…" _Is she talking about how it felt when she was locked in that statue? _Willow wondered while she helped the demon into her leather coat, to keep at least some of the rain away from her; once she had gotten done with this, she quickly got dressed as well, then grasped Pat's hand again and, without allowing herself to doubt if this might really help or was just another bout of madness, led the demon out of the apartment, trying to ignore her racing heart as they made their way down the stairs, something deep inside telling her that the reason for this sudden strange behaviour was more, had to be more, than just insanity.

* * *

Once they were outside, Pat just stood on the sidewalk, the by now heavy rain falling down on her and wetting her coat and hair; feeling protective of her, Willow tried to make her step underneath the umbrella she had brought, the demon moving away from her thought, a few steps down the sidewalk, obviously not minding the rain beating down on her. In the distance, Willow could see someone approach, but paid them no mind, moving after her girlfriend and tenderly grasping her hand, trying to capture Pat's gaze with hers, her voice soft when she finally had succeeded in doing so and spoke up. "Is this helping you…? Will you come back to me now? Please, come back to me…"

From the corner of her eye, she noticed that the approaching figure had stopped several meters away, but paid them no mind, figuring that whoever it was probably was wondering what the two women were doing outside on such a night, standing on the sidewalk, one of them underneath an umbrella, the other one right in the pouring rain.

"If you can hear me in there, come back to me", she went on, reaching up and tenderly caressing the by now wet cheek of her loved one, her voice trembling as she continued to speak. "Please… I know you're strong enough, please come back to me…"

"So your threats of painful death and torture were for nothing", the figure close to them suddenly spoke up, making the witch jump as she twirled around, her eyes going wide as she recognized the man who was responsible for all of this. "You got her back, but now she's crazy", he went on, smirking to himself as he took a few steps closer, Willow almost automatically moving in front of Pat, not wanting this man to hurt her even more than he already had. "Too bad…"

"What are you still doing here?" she snapped, hoping that he wouldn't notice how much of her bravado was an act – after the spell she had done to gain the strength she'd needed to deal with him, she hadn't dared to do any magic this powerful again, knowing that she might end up addicted to it again quicker than she might think, and she wasn't sure if she had regained enough strength to fight this guy, should he decide to attack her or her loved one. "I told you to leave town."

"Oh, I was planning to, really", the man reassured her, smirking at her cruelly, "but then I heard of the unfortunate fate of your girlfriend here… And a new plan came up in my brilliant mind."

"And you're so modest", Willow muttered, making him laugh before he shrugged, giving her another disdainful smile. "Just knowing myself well. I admit, my first plan didn't go so well, but this new one… It'd be a shame if Buffy lost her best friend, right? Especially if she lost her best friend due to the woman said best friend loves, who unfortunately lost her mind… and burned a certain cute redhead to a crisp…"

"There's nothing you can say or do to make Pat do that", Willow gave back, even though she wasn't sure that this was what the man was aiming at; he chuckled and shook his head, stuffing his hands into the pants of his pocket, the smirk on his face now cruel as he replied. "No… She won't do that, that's true. But my little pet here will."

And with those words, he let out a shrill whistle; moments later, an ugly, misshapen creature came rushing down the street with long, animalistic looking jumps, a shriek escaping the redhead when a burst of flame left its mouth and hit the sidewalk, the puddles of water there immediately drying up. Telling herself that she couldn't panic now, that she had faced much worse things and had done well, and that she had to protect Pat, Willow forced herself to calm down as she brought up her hand; before she could voice the spell though, the creature had reached her, delivering a powerful backhanded swipe which sent her to the ground, another cry escaping her as pain welled up in her body.

Dimly, she heard the laughter of the man responsible for all of this while she tried to dodge another hit, the creature this time hitting her shoulder instead of her face; the pain was still tremendous, and she cried out again, her gaze falling on Pat moments later, the demon standing where Willow had left her, watching the scene with an indifferent expression on her face. _She won't snap out of it, forget that, _Willow told herself, groaning when yet another hit landed, this time aimed at her lower back, _you'll have to deal with this yourself… _

She took a fourth hit, holding back her cry this time, taking in a deep breath as she forced herself to focus; the spell she managed to throw against the creature wasn't one of her strongest ones, but enough to send it flying a few meters away, giving her some time to sort her thoughts and come up with stronger magic – or so she had thought, the voice of the monster's master coming up again before she could figure something out. "Enough playing around! Fry her! _Burn the witch_!"

He laughed at his own – rather lame, Willow dully thought to herself – pun, his laughter underlined by the shriek the creature let out in response; then, it opened it's mouth again, and flames appeared, the redhead squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for the searing pain to start, her cry fading away unheard.


	11. Chapter 11

Time seemed to slow down as she waited for the flames to reach her and burn her, her heartbeat as loud as a drum in her own ears; she wondered if this was how it felt to be close to dying, as if it was the first time she was experiencing this. As if in slow-motion, the fire the creature was spewing at her came closer and closer; she knew that in reality, not even the split of a second had passed, asking herself if it was shock that made time slow down like that, or if she subconsciously had cast some spell which slowed down time to let her escape – when all at once, a dark shape came from the left, tackling her, covering her, strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her upwards against a familiar body.

As if this had been a cue, time returned to its normal speed, the flames washing over the one holding her; she could feel their heat and automatically squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, the fire not reaching her though, the heat not harming as much as a single hair on her head. She heard how the creature let out another shriek, now sounding annoyed; slowly, she dared to open her eyes again, craning her neck so she could look at the one holding her, her breath getting stuck in her throat when she saw who it was.

"Pat…?" she brought out, not able to believe her eyes, her gaze meeting the clear and calm one of her lover; briefly, Pat smiled at her and nodded, then let go of her and straightened back up without another word, turning to face the man who had been responsible for the eight days she had spent in the darkness of insanity.

"You know what, pal?" she spoke up casually, the man just staring at her with wide eyes, obviously not able to believe what just had happened. "Sending a fire demon to deal with someone whose _girlfriend_ is a fire demon as well… Bad idea. Pissing off said fire demon by trying to burn her girlfriend to a crisp? Worst idea ever."

And with those words, she burst into flames, not just her hands as she usually let it happen when she was helping on patrol, but all of her body; feeling the heat of the flames as well as the anger which was filling her loved one, Willow crawled a few steps backwards, still staring in disbelief, her heart hammering up to her throat again with excitement as she fully realized what just had happened. _She saw that monster hurting me and it made her come back… She came back to me… _

Before she could ponder this further though, the creature the man had summoned threw itself forward, towards her loved one; without hesitation, Pat grabbed it and used the momentum it still had due to its jump to throw it against the nearest wall, rushing after it a second later, Willow holding her breath when her loved one and the creature started to exchange blows, flames falling from both their bodies and hissing away to nothingness on the wet to concrete.

Another cry escaped the witch when the monster landed a rather painful looking blow, hard enough to send her girlfriend flying and crashing into the trashcans standing on the opposite sidewalk; unfazed by this though, Pat quickly came to her feet again, snarling as she pulled back her fist, then punched forward, a brightly burning ball of fire exploding from her fist and rushing towards the creature, too fast to let it dodge, hitting it with full force and sending it into the wall again.

"Enough playtime", she then snarled, clenching her fists as she hurried over to the creature again; without hesitation, she grabbed it at the jaw and the back of the head, the snap of the monster's neck breaking when she twisted brutally echoing through the night and causing the man who had sent this after the two to let out a startled cry. Dusting off her hands as if she had been dirtied by this, the demon turned around to face the man who was responsible for all of this; she still was engulfed in brightly burning flames, making Willow wonder briefly if this meant that she'd demon out any second now, wicked glee filling her at the thought of what she might do to that guy then.

"Guess you'll need a new pet to light your fires", the black haired woman now commented dryly, taking a step towards the guy, smirking when he immediately took one backwards in response, visibly scared now. "Usually, my girlfriend doesn't approve of it if I kill humans, and makes me sleep on the couch", the demon went on, now sounding casual, as if she was talking about the weather to some random guest at a cocktail party. "But somehow, I think she'll be fine with it this time…"

"Go ahead", Willow muttered behind her, coming to her feet again; briefly, the guy looked at her, then focused on Pat again, a smirk forming on his face, a sight the demon didn't like at all.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed", he stated, giving the black haired woman an amused glance. "Usually, people… or demons… don't come out of insanity so easily. I'd love to stay a bit longer and chat about how the experience has been for you, but I really have to go now… I won't be rude though, I'll leave you some entertainment."

And with those words, he whistled again, then turned off and ran; before Pat had a chance to follow him though, yet another creature came bounding out of a side alley, the demon's eyes going wide at the sight of it – before she twirled around, grabbed Willow and started to run, dragging the shocked redhead along with her.

"What's going on?" Willow panted out, glancing back over her shoulder, horrified at the speed with which the creature was following them. "What is this thing?"

"It's fast", Pat gave back, speeding up her run and forcing the witch to do the same, her breath soon turning into panting, "and it's immune to my fire… I can't fight it, not without weapons! _Run_!"

Figuring that her loved one probably knew what she was talking about, the redhead sped up, telling herself that there would be time to celebrate Pat's return to sanity later on, once they'd be safe; behind her, she heard the creature the man had summoned come closer and closer, her breath burning in her lungs as she forced herself to keep running, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep this speed up much longer.

* * *

"We can't outrun it", Pat panted out after they had just been hurrying through dark side alleys and across empty streets through a while, the demon always close behind them; next to her, Willow merely nodded in agreement, by now gasping too hard to talk properly, well aware of the fact that her legs felt as if they'd buckle beneath her any second.

"Over there", the demon next to her now gained her attention, gesturing at a parked motorcycle with her free hand, already rushing over to the vehicle while she continued speaking. "You can start this thing up with magic, right?"

Trying to catch her breath, Willow nodded again, concentrating hard while Pat hurriedly hopped on the motorcycle; quickly, the witch climbed on the vehicle behind her, taking in another deep breath before she commanded "Start", the engine roaring to life a second later.

"Hold on tight", Pat advised her, making her nod before she threw a nervous glance at the advancing demon; a few more steps, and it would have reached them to do God knew what to them, but before it had that chance, the engine roared up again and the motorcycle almost shot out of the parking spot, causing Willow to let out a surprised yelp, her grip around Pat's waist tightening.

Under different circumstances, she would have enjoyed it to be so close to her girlfriend, especially now, with the demon having regained her sanity; right now though, she was too terrified of the monster still chasing them as Pat drove the motorbike down the quiet street, glancing into the rear view mirror every now and then, frowning when she saw that the demon was still after them, obviously not planning to give up any time soon. With the tires screeching, she rounded a corner, the way the motorcycle tilted causing Willow to squeeze her eyes shut again; before they could fall over though, the demon put one foot down on the street, keeping them from crashing and bringing the bike into an upright position again, the engine roaring once more as she increased the speed of the vehicle.

"Where are we going?" the redhead demanded to know as soon as she could be sure she had regained enough of her breath to talk properly; the answer didn't really surprise her, as she figured that it was obvious and that she should have seen it, as well.

"Buffy's place", the demon shouted to be heard over the noisy engine, "she has more weapons in that dorm room than the whole gang can use at once… Do you trust me?"

The question came so unexpected that for a moment, Willow could only blink; then, she regained her sense, her voice fierce as she replied. "Of course I do! Why are you asking?"

"Just keep holding on tight", the demon gave back in reply, the witch not able to see the smirk which had formed on her face as she spoke on. "I'll put a wall between that nasty little bugger and ourselves…"

"How do you want to…" the redhead started, only to fall silent in shock as she saw where Pat was driving the motorcycle – up against a trash container at the end of the blind alley across the street, several broad planks had been leaned, the witch's heart hammering up to her throat again as she realized what her loved one intended to do.

"Oh jeez", she brought out, then squeezed her eyes shut again; twenty seconds later, she felt the motorbike tilt as it drove up the planks, then the ground vanished beneath them, Willow holding her breath as the bike jumped the wall behind the trash container, the tires screeching loudly again when they settled back on the street.

Quickly, Pat rounded the next corner before the demon could climb the wall as well, making sure they'd be out of the monster's sight; still grinning to herself, obviously enjoying this greatly, she spoke up again, the redhead barely able to hear her due to the hammering of her own heart. "That should win us some time, enough to get to Buffy and to wake her up… Oh, and you can hold on less tight now, you're cutting off my flow of air."

"Sorry", Willow muttered, forcing herself to loosen her grip around the demon's waist a bit; to her relief, Pat pulled off no more stunts like the one she just had made the witch go through, but merely kept driving – with rather high speed, no less – until they arrived at the campus and at the building where Buffy's room was located.


	12. Chapter 12

"Go and get Buffy", Pat told Willow as soon as the witch had killed the engine of the bike with yet another small spell, "I don't want to lead this thing inside the dorm building, people could get…"

Before she had the chance to tell Willow what exactly she didn't want to happen, the witch suddenly had grabbed her and pulled her down, kissing her with surprising force and passion; a muffled noise escaped the demon while her eyebrows shot up, then she regained her senses and responded, pulling the smaller woman close to herself.

"Whoa", she mumbled after the kiss, with that well-known, lusty spark in her eyes the redhead loved to see so much, "I'll go insane more often from now on if I get this as a reward for becoming sane again…"

"Don't you dare", Willow gave back, fighting the urge to just grab her and kiss her again, telling herself that they had more important things to do now and that there'd be enough time for kissing once the demon who was after them would be dead; still it took almost all her willpower to turn away from her loved one and rush inside the building, quickly reaching Buffy's room and opening the door without bothering to knock.

"Buffy", she spoke as she grasped the shoulder of the Slayer and shook her awake, once more awed at how fast her best friend always was awake and alert, "come quick! We need your help…"

Hurriedly, she explained what had happened, Buffy's eyes going wide when she heard that Pat had regained her sanity; she didn't let this stop her from acting though, quickly opening the large wooden chest Xander had given her for her birthday two years ago, getting out her favourite sword and a rather large battle axe, by now knowing the demon well enough to be aware of the fact that she favoured that kind of weapon.

Handing the weapons to Willow, she took the time to put on a coat, not wanting to fight the demon which had been sent after her best friend and Pat in her pyjama – especially not since it was the Sushi one, and it would have looked rather ridiculous; then, she grabbed both the sword and the axe again and hurried out of the room, Willow close behind her. When they hurried out of the building, they both had to see to their dismay that that during the time it had taken them to get prepared, the demon which had been chasing the couple had caught up to them, and was fighting with Pat; since the taller woman knew that the monster was immune to her fire, Willow figured that she let her hands flare up more out of habit than to make full use of them, the redhead glad to see that so far, her loved one apparently hadn't been hurt.

"Pat!" Buffy called out, gaining the attention of the demon; next to her, Willow winced when the Slayer threw her girlfriend the axe, something she had done a hundred times by now and something which always had worked out fine with the demon catching it nonchalantly, but it still made her uneasy to see Buffy hurl such sharp and pointy objects at her loved one.

The moment Pat had caught the axe and was swinging it at the demon, the Slayer joined the fight as well; by now, the two had fought together often enough to not endanger each other with their weapons, Willow keeping a safe distance to the action, quietly preparing a spell she could use against the summoned demon in case the fight wouldn't go so well. It quickly became clear though that the combined powers of an angry fire demon and the Vampire Slayer didn't give the monster much of a chance; it didn't take long until Pat managed to sling the wooden grip of her axe around his throat from behind, holding him in a choking grip that way so Buffy could ram her sword into the monster's body, causing it to let out a painful howl which probably woke up everyone in the dorm before it vaporized into nothingness, Pat's eyebrows shooting up almost all the way to her hairline the moment she saw how close the sharp point of Buffy's sword was to her stomach.

"Next time, don't ram it all the way through", she advised, lowering the axe and taking a step back; a moment later, Buffy let her sword drop to the ground, then surprised both Willow and Pat by stepping up to the taller woman and hugging her with surprising fierceness, squeezing her eyes shut as if she all of a sudden was close to tears. Momentarily startled, Pat looked at her girlfriend a bit helpless, then returned the embrace, patting the Slayer's back reassuringly, not sure what else she could do.

"Wow", she finally regained her ability to speak, "at first Willow gives me this big steamy smooch, and now you hug me so fiercely you nearly tackle me over? Is everyone going to react like this?"

"If anyone else gives you a big steamy smooch, I'll be jealous", Willow threw in, smiling, obviously touched by the scene.

"Well, I don't know about Anya", Buffy gave back, also sounding as if she was on the verge of tears, "but Xander, Giles and Dawn will be happy, too… I'm glad to have you back…"

"I'm glad to be back", Pat reassured her, patting the Slayer's back once more before Buffy pulled back from the embrace and picked her sword up again, giving the demon a slightly sheepish smile. "Sorry… I didn't mean to startle you…"

"Oh, that hug wasn't all that startling after seeing you nearly impaled me along with that demon", the taller woman teased in reply, causing Buffy to huff, giving the demon a mock glare.

"That never would have happened", she then insisted while she started walking back to the dorm building's entrance, "I know my strength… That sword stopped exactly where I wanted it to."

"So you tickled me with it on purpose?" Pat countered, causing the Slayer to huff again before she punched the demon's upper arm lightly; afterwards, all three of them laughed as they made their way back to the blonde woman's room, the serious fact that the man who had been the cause of all this havoc still was around for the moment forgotten.

* * *

"So how are we going to find this guy?" Pat spoke up twenty minutes later, lounging on the bed which technically still was Willow's, but hardly ever used anymore since she spent most nights at her girlfriend's place; between her spread legs, Willow was sitting, one hand resting on the demon's upper leg, the other one holding the cold bottle of orange juice she had gotten from the fridge.

"Good question", Buffy admitted, sitting on her bed, taking a sip of her own drink before she continued, smiling to herself at the cute sight of the demon and the witch cuddling on the bed. "I guess he won't be using the hideout where Willow found him the first time anymore…"

"Seeing how full of himself he is, he actually might be", Pat muttered, making the witch chuckle; Buffy's smile widened as well, only to fade away again a moment later when the redhead spoke up. "Well… I guess I could do that spell again, the one I used to find him the first time…"

"No way", Pat and Buffy protested in perfect unison, exchanging a startled glance afterwards while Willow rose an eyebrow; after a moment of silence, Buffy was the one who continued speaking, the demon just nodding her head in agreement, something Willow couldn't see thanks to her position with her back to her girlfriend though. "It was dangerous enough when you did that spell for the first time… There's no way I'll let you do it again, so shortly afterwards."

"Agreed", Pat threw in, the redhead briefly getting annoyed at how her girlfriend and her best friend were joining forces against her, pushing the feeling aside though as she told herself that they both just were worried about her.

"We'll find him", the demon went on when Willow craned her neck to look at her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Shouldn't be too hard… As I said, he's so full of himself, he'll probably show his ugly mug again soon and this time, we'll be prepared."

"You think he'd be stupid enough to do that, after what just happened?" Buffy gave back, raising an eyebrow sceptically. "You killed two of his pet demons after all."

"Those poor creatures", Pat regretted in reply, causing both Willow and Buffy to throw her a surprised glance, the demon shrugging her shoulders in reply. "What? It's not like they did this on their own… He bound them to his will, both of them, they didn't have much of a choice."

"Could he do that to you, too?" Willow demanded to know, sounding alarmed; huffing, Pat shook her head, giving her a look afterwards which made it clear that she was shocked her lover could think something like that. "Of course not… Those two were lesser demons, almost like animals. I'm not."

"You're as furry as one when you demon out, though", Buffy giggled, getting up from the bed and making her way to the cupboard where she kept her snacks while Pat poked her tongue out at her, the childish reaction making Willow giggle heartily.

"You know", the witch then spoke up, while Buffy retrieved a pack of cookies from the cupboard and tore it open, "it was quite impressive, the way you practically jumped on top of me to protect me from those flames… And I'm glad you decided to regain your sanity just then, or I would be rather thoroughly cooked now."

"Fried", Pat corrected, grimacing at the memory of how close Willow had been to getting burned alive, one of her hands coming up to rub her forehead afterwards. "And to be honest, that wasn't exactly easy. I still got a headache."

"Poor you", Willow cooed, Buffy asking the demon if she wanted an aspirin afterward, Pat giving her a smile while she shook her head. "No, thanks, not necessary. The thrill of the motorcycle ride lessened it considerably, I'm sure it'll be gone soon."

"Motorcycle ride?" Buffy echoed, raising an eyebrow; smiling, Willow explained how Pat and she had escaped the horribly fast demon summoned to kill them, the Slayer's eyes going wide when the redhead told her about the daring stunt Pat had pulled off.

"I wish I could have seen that", the Slayer sighed out in response, making both the demon and the witch chuckle; smiling as well, Buffy offered her cookies to them afterwards, both of them gladly taking one before they just smiled at each other, the redhead's happiness about having her lover back clearly showing in her eyes and on her face.


	13. Chapter 13

In the next morning, Pat felt confused and disoriented when she woke up, for a moment not sure where she was; briefly, she was reminded of the time she had spent insane, shuddering at the memories, only to realize a second later that she had fallen asleep in Buffy's dorm room, Willow still lying halfway on top of her, sleeping soundly. In her bed, the Slayer was still asleep as well, lying flat on her back; carefully, so she wouldn't wake Willow up, Pat moved out from beneath the witch, then walked over to the window and opened it as quietly as she could; quickly, she patted her pockets, only to realize that she had no cigarettes with her, a groan escaping her at this unpleasant realization.

Briefly, she considered going out and buying some, then told herself that this could wait until Willow and Buffy had woken up; sighing to herself, she closed the window again, then moved to the shelf the Slayer used for her books and started to look through them, turning towards the redhead's bed again though when she heard the familiar noises of Willow waking up coming from there. Smiling, she moved over to the bed, bending over the redhead and kissing her tenderly before she even had opened her eyes; with a small sigh, Willow responded to the kiss, then looked at her, reaching up and tenderly cupping her cheek.

"Good morning", the demon softly spoke, not wanting to wake Buffy up since the Slayer still was slumbering peacefully; mindful of that as well, the witch kept her voice low too as she replied, her words causing Pat's smile to widen. "One of the best mornings ever, now that you're here with me again…"

"Just one of the best?" the demon smirked in reply, obediently lying down again next to the redhead when she tugged her shirt to make her do just that. "I'm offended it's not the best one."

"Well, it's in the top three", Willow smiled in reply, knowing her loved one wasn't serious; smirking as well, the demon wrapped her arms around the smaller woman next to her and pulled her closer, keeping her voice low as she mumbled the next words into her ear, the feeling of the warm breath on the sensitive skin there sending shivers up and down Willow's spine. "Too bad Buffy's here, or I'd make sure this morning ends up on first place in that top three…"

"You regained your sanity not even twelve hours ago and already, you're getting all worked up again", the witch teased in reply, rolling her eyes in mock annoyance; chuckling, the demon just shrugged, her hands coming to a tender rest on the other woman's stomach, a content sigh escaping Willow as she enjoyed being held close like that again.

"Can't help it", Pat now let her know, "it's not my fault you're so hot." In response, the witch blushed brightly, to the amusement of her girlfriend – even though they had been dating for quite some time now, the redhead still always blushed prettily when the demon said something like that to her, sometimes even getting uncomfortable and shifting around nervously.

This time, she kept still, but cleared her throat noisily; thankfully, Buffy started to wake up in her bed and thus kept the demon from embarrassing her any further with such remarks, the Slayer yawning adorably as she sat up on the bed and rubbed her eyes, then wished her friends a good morning when she saw they both were awake and asked them if they wanted to go out and have breakfast, something both Pat and Willow agreed to heartily, the couple waiting until Buffy had changed into clothes more appropriate for going out before they all left together, the mood light and happy, a lot of smiles and giggles being shared as the trio made their way to the nearest café.

* * *

"You know, your addiction to those cancer sticks really must run deep", Buffy pointed out an hour later, as the three just strolled down the street, taking a walk after the rather luxurious breakfast they had had in a café close to the campus; after eating, Pat immediately had entered the next best store to buy a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and now was smoking with obvious delight, the Slayer's words causing her to raise an eyebrow though as she waited for the blonde woman to speak on.

"You even wanted to smoke when you were insane", Buffy went on, making Willow nod next to her before the demon had a chance to voice possible doubts. "Now that you're normal again, it's kinda funny… You were sitting there with a face as if your favourite puppy dog just died, and if you hadn't been tapping your feet on the floor again, we never would have been able to figure it out."

"Buffy convinced me to let you smoke", Willow threw in, smirking while she squeezed her girlfriend's hand tenderly, "and you immediately knew how to do that when I put the cigarette into your hand… So I guess she's right about the addiction running deep, huh?"

"Apparently", Pat had to admit, not throwing away her cigarette before smoking it all the way down to the filter though, the content expression on her face making both Buffy and Willow giggle.

"I can assure you though it's more fun to smoke while being sane", the demon added after she finally had gotten done with said smoke, "to be honest, I don't even remember that… There's not much I remember from that week."

"What do you remember?" the witch asked, interested; shrugging, Pat scratched the back of her head, then gave her a sheepish smile, the sight immediately warming up Willow's heart. "Not much, as I said. And what I do remember is all kinda fuzzy. I remember that we went to the Magic Box once… and I remember that once, there was a really bad smell and it was cold."

At hearing this, Buffy burst into giggles, causing Pat to throw her a confused look; before she could ask what was going on though, Willow spoke up to clarify, interrupted by giggles as well several times. "That really bad smell was coming from you! Giles had brewed some potion to make you normal again and the only effect it had was that you were farting for hours… Very much, very loud, and very smelly. And it was cold because I had to keep the windows open or we would have suffocated! Not to mention what would have happened if you'd decided to make flames appear."

"We would have gone boom", Pat replied, now sounding amused as well; shaking her head to herself, she obviously had troubles to imagine how she had stunk up the air for hours, then shrugged it off as she gave the witch a slightly worried look. "I didn't set anything on fire, did I…?"

"Nope", Willow immediately reassured her, giving her hand another tender squeeze, smiling when it was returned – only now, she noticed how much she really had missed close physical contact with her girlfriend, her heart longing to just hold her close and kiss her, an urge she forced back down though as she didn't want to do so with Buffy just standing around next to them. "In fact, I'm quite sure you didn't even know you can do that… There were no fires at all, until you came back to me and burst into flames after that guy had managed to piss you off so much."

"Guess that was lucky", Pat commented, making both Willow and Buffy nod hastily; afterwards, the Slayer let her friends know that she'd go back to the dorm now and call the others to set up a meeting at the Magic Box, promising with a mischief glint in her eyes that she wouldn't tell anyone about the sudden recovery of the demon.

"See you there at three?" she then asked, making the couple realize that this would give them several hours alone – this followed by the realization that Buffy was doing this on purpose, giving them some time to properly celebrate Pat's return to sanity.

"See you later", they both thus said, Willow giving the Slayer a thankful glance before they parted ways, the couple returning to the demon's apartment while Buffy made her way back to the dorm, already looking forward to seeing the faces of their friends once they'd realize that Pat was back to normal.

* * *

Two hours later, the couple was snuggling in the bed, covered by the blankets; Willow let out a content little sigh as once more, the demon had started to caress her hair, something she really was fond of doing and something the redhead always enjoyed greatly.

"That was something I've been missing the whole week", Willow sighed out after a while, causing Pat to raise an eyebrow before she replied, her tone of voice showing she wasn't fully serious. "And you accuse me of getting worked up quickly? You're just as bad as I am!"

"I wasn't talking about that!" Willow defended herself, giggling when her girlfriend's face fell and quickly speaking on. "Well… Okay, I missed _that_, too. But I was talking about this… snuggling, cuddling, you just holding me close to yourself… You know, I snuggled up to you every night while you were insane, but you never reacted to it…"

"I really must have been out of my mind then", Pat chuckled, only to grow serious again a second later, sounding worried as she spoke on. "I hope this didn't hurt you too much…"

"Well, it did hurt", the witch admitted after a moment, "but… I know you didn't do it on purpose… You couldn't help it, you were insane, after all. I'm just glad to have you back… You have no idea how good it felt to look up when you protected me from that fire and see that you're normal again…"

With those words, she propped herself up on one elbow so she could kiss her loved one half a dozen times, the kisses remaining surprisingly innocent after the passionate ones they had shared not all too long ago; smiling, she pulled back, her smile widening at the blissful expression on her lover's face.

"Promise me you'll never go crazy again", she mumbled, the demon to her amusement nodding immediately, still with that expression of heavenly bliss on her face.

"I promise", the demon stated, pulling the redhead a bit closer to herself again, "the only kind of crazy I'll be from now on will be crazy for you… And, oh jeez, that was so tacky again."

Appalled by her own words, she grimaced, while Willow just giggled next to her, shaking her head – every now and then, such cheesy statements would escape the demon, something which always embarrassed her, but touched the witch deeply each time.

"I like tacky", she thus reassured her, "but only when it's coming from you…"

"I wouldn't like it if you'd get that smile on your face when anyone else but me says something tacky to you", the demon smirked in reply, then bent over to pick up her bathrobe and put it on, getting out of the bed a moment later.

"We should have a shower, and get dressed", she stated, making Willow nod as she realized that soon, they'd meet their friends at the Magic Box; still she was reluctant to get out of bed, taking another moment to enjoy the warmth of it and how good she felt before she finally forced herself to get up as well, joining her girlfriend in the bathroom, all thoughts forgotten a few minutes later as passion once more washed them away into nothingness.


	14. Chapter 14

"Willow", Giles greeted another hour later, sounding slightly surprised as he looked up from the book he had been leafing through and at the witch entering the store, as always when she had appeared here lately holding hands with her lover. At the table in the middle of the shop, Xander, Anya, Dawn and Buffy were sitting, the Slayer clearly struggling to hold back a smile; she had to admit that Pat was putting up quite the act, looking rather dazed as she stood next to the witch – before she remembered that the couple had had several hours alone before they had come here, the way they had spent those hours most likely responsible for the expression on her face.

"Did we mix up schedules?" Giles now asked, snapping the book close and putting it back on the shelf, throwing the witch a worried glance. "I've been working on that potion I talked to you about, but it's not done yet…"

"I hope it won't make me fart again", Pat commented, forcing Buffy to not just hold back a smile, but a giggle; behind her, the eyes of Dawn and Xander went wide while Anya just stared, Giles at the first moment apparently not noticing though what just had happened. "No, I can assure you it won't, it's… Oh dear Lord."

He fell silent, staring at the demon; before he could say anything though, Dawn had jumped up from her seat and had rushed through the room, hugging Pat so fiercely that she nearly threw her over.

"You're back!" she cried out, Xander and Anya getting up from their seats as well and hurrying over to where the demon stood, once more risking Dawn's liking for her by ruffling her hair; this time, the teenager obviously didn't mind though, since she just kept smiling up at the taller woman, the way her eyes were shining with happiness touching both Pat and Willow deeply.

"I'm not gonna tackle-hug you, or Willow might get jealous and mad at me", Xander stated as soon as Dawn finally had let go of the black haired woman again, smiling widely, successfully ignoring the look Willow was giving him, "but I'll give you a manly, friendly pat on the shoulder. There we go."

With those words, he did that just that – only to mutter "Oh screw this" to himself a second later, pulling the slightly stunned demon into a rather tight hug as well, giving her back a few pats before he moved back, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Hugging and patting Pat", the demon smirked, while Willow threw Xander a clearly fake annoyed glare, "the new past time of the Scoobies…"

"Patting Pat has a nice ring to it", Buffy commented while Anya took a step closer to the demon, making the taller woman look down on her, still with a smirk on her face. "You wanna hug me, too? Big demon hug?"

"Demon hugs are harsh, and violent", Anya replied, sounding fully sincere and making the rest chuckle, "we might fall over and break something, which would mean a loss for me. So, no, no big demon hug, but a normal human one…"

And with those words, she stepped up to the demon and hugged her briefly, not as tight as Buffy, Dawn and Xander had, but still the gesture made everyone else smile, Giles taking off his glasses and approaching the black haired woman as well once Anya had pulled back.

"I'm not one who's much into hugging", the Watcher let Pat know, "so I'll settle for that pat on the shoulder Xander was offering…"

"Patting Pat, as I was saying", Buffy giggled while Giles did that just that, finally getting up from her seat as well and joining the group, smiling up at the taller demon. "Maybe we should suggest that this is turned into a national holiday. Patting Pat Day."

"No way", both Willow and Pat protested in perfect unison, smiling at each other briefly before the demon went on, raising an eyebrow at the Slayer. "Only my friends are allowed to pat me."

"And usually, only I am allowed to hug her like this", Willow pointed out, moving closer to her girlfriend and immediately making Pat put an arm around her waist, "but I'll let it pass this time, seeing she just recovered from insanity…"

"How come you're not hugging her?" Dawn demanded to know in response, turning to look at her sister; smiling, Buffy let her know that she had done so the night before, after killing a nasty and fast demon, the teenager huffing in reply, crossing her arms over her chest as she gave the Slayer a glare. "So you already knew and didn't tell us? Why not?"

"I wanted to see your faces upon realizing it", Buffy admitted, returning the glare her sister had given her seconds ago when Dawn punched her upper arm in reply. "That was mean", the teenager then complained, causing Buffy to throw her an apologetic glance; afterwards, they all moved to the table and sat down there, knowing that now, the frolicking was over and it was time to talk about how to find the man who was responsible for all of this.

* * *

"So", Buffy stated as soon as everyone had made themselves comfortable and Giles had brought drinks from the backroom, the group helping themselves to the cooled cans of soda and iced tea he had provided, "what should we do to find this guy? And Willow, before you even think of suggesting this again, no more dark magic."

"Well, I don't think I can find him with non-dark magic", the witch admitted after a moment, giving the rest a sheepish look and taking a sip of her drink before she went on. "When I found him the first time, he told me that he'd been waiting for me, so he probably just let me find him… By now, he won't be so keen on meeting us again, seeing that he was there when Pat snapped out of her sanity and so he knows she's back to normal, and since he can bind lesser demons to his will, I'm afraid he'll also be able to hide himself from my magic…"

"Well", the demon next to her spoke up before anyone else could say something, "I still think we just can sit back and wait… He's so self-confident, he probably thinks he can defeat us even if he faces us as a group. And if he brings some of his pet demons along, it might be harder for us to get rid of him than we might be thinking now."

"Could you break his control on those demons?" Buffy demanded to know, focusing on Willow again; she didn't like the thought of just sitting around and waiting for the guy to come after them again, but if they couldn't come up with a better idea, she at least wanted to be sure that any demons he might bring along wouldn't be a problem.

"I guess so", the redhead shrugged after a moment, "shouldn't be too hard actually, I'm quite sure he's using a spell to do it as well, and I could try to counter that…"

"Prepare that spell as fast as possible then", Buffy advised her, "Pat might have a point, if he's really as full of himself as she says, he'll show up again sooner or later, and I want to be ready for him in case this happens sooner."

"But why would he need a spell?" Anya quipped up, making everyone else look at her, none of them obviously understanding what she was talking about, not even Pat, even though she should have an idea, due to her demonic nature. "If he's a demon himself, he could be able to control them with his mind", the ex-demon explained with surprising patience. "There are some who can do that."

"Not me", Pat shrugged at the curious look both Xander and Dawn were shooting her in reply, "my speciality's fire, not mind control."

"Well, in case he is using a spell, Willow can undo it", Giles threw in when everyone else was pondering the possibility of their opponent controlling his pet demons without any spells, "and in case he's controlling them with some demonic ability… I guess we'll just have to fight his pets off until Buffy took care of him, then."

"Do you think you can handle it?" the Slayer asked the rest of the gang, making them all nod at once, even though Xander and Anya were not so sure about it – lately, Buffy had started teaching Dawn how to fight properly, but none of them had gotten any lessons, and especially Xander knew that he could be awfully clumsy in the worst possible moments.

"We'll do fine", Pat reassured the Slayer before Anya or Xander could voice any doubts and maybe make the blonde woman rethink the small plan she had come up with, "as long as we take along weapons, in case he brings alone some pets immune to my flames… Even if Willow can't break his control over them, she can still help with spells then. And oh, that reminds me, you are aware of the fact that breaking his control over those demons won't guarantee they won't attack us, right?"

"Of course", Buffy reassured her, smirking slightly maliciously as she spoke on. "But it also means that he can't be sure they won't attack him…"

"Good point", Pat admitted, reaching for her pack of cigarettes; one look of Giles was enough to make her reconsider though, and with a sigh, she put it back into her pocket, giving the Watcher a dismayed glance which he returned calmly, the tiniest notion of a smile curling his lips.

"We should stick close to each other", the Slayer now thought out loud, "just in case he'll attack again soon…"

"Well, he's after you", Anya gave back, blunt as ever, by now not able to faze anyone anymore with her behaviour though, "so we should stick close to you, right? That'll be hard to do as long as you're staying at that dorm room though, except for Willow, no one of us is going to college."

She threw Pat an annoyed glance to which the demon reacted with surprise, not sure what she had done to deserve this; a moment later, Anya spoke on, her voice so stern it was almost comical, especially considering what she was saying. "You really shouldn't have dropped out of college! Education is the key to a richer life."

"I'm a two hundred and thirty eight year old demon who used to be an assassin, and I got paid for my jobs with _money_. Not with saucy young virgins or something. So, I am rich", Pat pointed out in reply, Willow throwing her a brief irritated look at the bit about virgins, the demon pointedly ignoring it though.

"Anyhow", Buffy raised her voice before Anya could reply anything and keep the discussion about Pat's financial situation going on longer than necessary, "Anya's made a point – it'll be hard for you guys to stick close to me as long as I'm at the dorm…"

"Slumber party", Willow threw in as an answer, making all of the group look at her in confusion, the witch smiling at them before she explained herself. "We could hold a slumber party. At Pat's place, or at yours, Xander. That way, we'd all be together, and when he attacks…"

"You think he'd be dumb enough to attack when all of us are together?" Buffy demanded to know, the witch shrugging in reply. "You never know… As Pat said, he's awfully full of himself, I've met him, remember? It'd be just like him to appear then, hold some corny little Oh, look at me, the supervillain, I'm so smart and cunning speech, probably with some lame puns thrown in, and then make some clumsy attempt to kill you, Buffy."

"Plus, he was dumb enough not to think of the possibility that Willow simply could kill him and take the antidote from his dead body when he faced her and told her of his… plan", Giles commented, taking off his glasses and starting to clean them once more, "so I think the idea of a… slumber party… isn't a bad one… You'll forgive me though if I won't join in."

"Of course", Buffy reassured him, giving him a smile while Pat looked slightly relieved – even though Giles and she had gotten along fairly well during the last months, she always felt slightly uncomfortable around the Watcher, clearly having a problem with his at times stiff attitude.

"So when should we hold this slumber party?" Xander demanded to know, bringing the talk back to their plan; quickly, it was decided that it would be held at the apartment of Xander and Anya, since it was bigger than Pat's place, and at the next weekend, the conversation moving to lighter topics afterwards as the matter had been settled.


	15. Chapter 15

"You know, that guy doesn't seem all too smart", Pat commented two hours later as she was walking away from the Magic Box with Willow by her side, giving her girlfriend a sceptic look; smirking, the redhead shrugged, giving the taller woman a brief scolding glance as she didn't bother to get out her lighter to light a cigarette, but did it with a flame she made appear on her index finger.

"You have to stop doing this in public", she then stated, shaking her head, "some day, someone will see you, and what will you say then?"

"That it is an amazing special effect?" Pat shrugged, shaking her hand to make the flame go out; rolling her eyes, Willow shook her head once more, then finally answered her lover's question, smirking again as she did so. "And yes, in fact, I do think he's dumb enough to do this… God, you should have heard him talk, all evil chuckles and stuff… And that pun he made when he turned his demon loose on me? He actually said 'Burn the witch' and laughed in that corny way again. How lame is that?"

"That is very lame", Pat immediately agreed, "even lamer than the jokes Xander sometimes tries to make, and I guess that means something."

"Indeed", Willow grimaced, shaking her head to herself once more afterwards. "He's so corny, really… Like something out of a comic book for children. And why all those silly plans? He had you turned to stone, why didn't he just do it to Buffy?"

"Maybe the poison works only on demons?" Pat shrugged, taking a rather long drag of her cigarette before she spoke on. "He obviously knew I'm a demon, and also what kind of demon, since that second pet he let loose on us wasn't all too impressed by my fire."

"And still you used you fiery fists of fury on it", Willow giggled, the demon smiling as well while she shrugged once more. "Habit, I guess… Plus, I have to admit I just like the effect. And I think I'll remember that name you just used for it, that's cool."

"I also have one for the thing you do with your eyes", Willow giggled, nodding when in response, her lover's eyes briefly flashed up brightly red. "Glowing gaze of rage." she then added, smiling when Pat chuckled in reply; briefly, the couple stopped walking afterwards to exchange an innocent, but tender kiss, then continued their way back to the demon's apartment, unaware of the pair of angry eyes watching them.

* * *

On Saturday evening, they all met at Xander's and Anya's apartment, ready for the sleepover they had planned to lure their so far still nameless opponent into their trap; to the happiness of everyone, Willow and Pat brought a whole plastic bag filled with unhealthy snacks and cans of soda, the demon looking regretful while she put them into the fridge.

"No alcohol for us tonight", she let the rest of the group know, "in case he shows up, we should be sober."

"Well, Buffy and you wouldn't be affected too much, even if you'd drink", Xander pointed out, causing the demon to pause – before she looked at the Slayer, a smirk curling her lips. "That reminds me, you still owe me a drinking contest."

"We'll have one when we got rid of that guy", Buffy promised in reply, returning the smile; commenting that she wouldn't clean it up if Pat would puke, Willow started tearing open the bags of crisps and popcorn, pouring their contents into the bowls Anya helpfully provided for her.

"So", Xander gained the attention of the rest as soon as Pat had finished putting the soda cans into the fridge, "I rented some movies for us, so we wouldn't be bored while we're waiting for Mr I-Wanna-Be-Incredible to make his entrance. We got I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Exorcist Uncut, Omen, and of course, the all-time-classic, The Shining."

"I don't care what we see as long as it's not a silly slasher movie with stupid teens", Pat stated, grimacing at the mere thought of watching such a movie; next to her, Willow nodded her agreement, smiling briefly at her girlfriend before she spoke up as well, her words making the rest of the group chuckle heartily. "You really don't wanna watch such a movie with her, she gets all angry about how the characters behave. We once went to the cinema to see one of those flicks and she actually shouted 'You stupid bitch' at the screen when a girl did something dumb."

"Didn't that make the other people at the cinema mad?" Buffy demanded to know between giggles; smiling as well, Willow shook her head, giving her girlfriend a brief loving glance before she answered. "Actually, no, they all agreed with her… It was an awfully stupid thing that girl had been doing."

"Okay, no slasher movies then", Xander stated, giving Pat a toothy smile to make sure she wouldn't misunderstand his next words, "we don't want our fiery friend here to go all angry and flamey and set the couch on fire, right?"

"I never set couches on fire", the demon protested in reply, throwing Willow a sideways glance before she ruefully added, "only carpets, but that wasn't done out of anger. And anyway, you all make me sound as if I have a temper from Hell or something, what's up with that?"

"Well, your temper can be a tad short at times", Willow informed her, smiling when the demon threw her an offended glance, "but no worries, you're a demon, that's probably part of the package!"

"It is", Anya helpfully informed, "in fact, her temper is remarkably calm for a demon. I've met much worse ones!"

"Good to know", Pat muttered to herself; before the discussions about how short her temper actually was could continue though, Xander clapped his hands to gain the attention of everybody and demanded to know which movie they wanted to see, the group settling for The Shining after brief discussion, none of them able to relax properly though while the movie played as they all kept wondering if their opponent would show up that night – and if things really would go as they had planned.

* * *

They had gotten halfway through the movie when from the hallway, the sound of the front door bursting open came, making everyone jump despite the fact that they all had anticipated this to happen sooner or later; recovering from her shock as quickly as always, Buffy jumped up from the couch and reached for the weapons she had hidden behind it, throwing the demon's favoured battle axe to her before she handed swords to Xander and Anya, keeping one to herself while Willow started muttering to herself, preparing the spell to the point where only one word would be necessary to break any possible controlling spell their opponent might have over his pet demons.

"Stick to the plan", she hissed as heavy footsteps came from the hallway, making the rest of the group nod; unceremoniously, Pat shoved Willow behind her before she lined up in front of the witch with Anya and Xander, all three of them knowing that they'd have to protect her until her counter spell would work, something which wouldn't necessarily happen immediately.

"What a cosy party", the man stated as he strolled into the living room, looking around, gazing at the TV before he smiled at the group, his hands in the pockets of his pants, his smile seeming just a bit too wide to be real when he looked at the group again. "The Shining, huh? Gotta love Jack Nicholson in this…"

"Did you come here to discuss movies?" Buffy demanded to know, smiling sweetly at him, casually holding the sword in one hand while she put the other one on her hip. "And here I am, thinking you're having some business with me."

"Oh, I do", the guy reassured her, apparently not impressed by the sword she was holding – or by the weapons the others were clutching, merely glancing at them briefly. "I have to say though I'm a bit offended by the way you think of me", he continued, throwing Willow and Pat an annoyed glance. "Calling me corny and comparing me to some cheap comic book villain? I'm hurt. And oh, Willow, that imitation you tried to do of me really wasn't all that great… That's clearly not one of your strong points."

"You were spying on us?" Willow demanded to know in reply, outraged; chuckling, the guy nodded, winking at her afterwards, his next words making Pat clench her axe so hard that the handle creaked suspiciously. "No worries though… I left before the two of you got… close. Even though I have to admit I got a good eyeful of you, little witch, when you took off that—"

"You really want to stop talking now", Willow quickly cut him off, alarmed by the smoke which had started to rise from the clothes and hands of her loved one at the man's last words, "my girlfriend has a really short temper, as you should know by now, and every word you'll add to this sentence you just started will make it shorter."

"Oh, I do", the guy reassured her, giving another chuckle afterwards, causing Xander to roll his eyes and mutter "Really corny" to himself, something which earned him another annoyed glance from their opponent. "And I can't hold it against her", he then went on, giving the enraged Pat a sarcastic smirk. "What, with me being responsible for her turning into a statue and afterwards, going insane… Really, I wouldn't like myself either in that case. And I have to admit that the plans I had come up with so far didn't work out as well as I had been hoping…"

"No shit", the demon grumbled, giving the man a death glare; he laughed it off, then turned towards Buffy again, smiling a smile which he probably thought of as charming, but which only annoyed the Slayer. "To be frank with you, I was planning to destroy you completely before I'd have you killed, hence why I tried to make your little witch friend here kill you and then tried to have her thoroughly fried… But it seems that elaborate plans don't work out so well, so I decided a more… direct approach now."

"Are you done talking then?" Buffy demanded to know, raising her sword slightly and an eyebrow at the guy. "I'll never understand why villains always need to hold such big and lengthy speeches", she added, a sigh following those words – before she launched into the attack, the rest watching in silent suspense as the two started battling, asking themselves if there still was some trick hidden up the man's sleeve they weren't aware of and what might happen if there was – and he'd decide to use it.

* * *

It rather quickly turned out that the guy neither had a trick up his sleeve, nor much experience with fighting – after just thirty seconds, Buffy had him on the ground, one foot on his chest and the tip of her sword against his throat, a smirk on her face as she looked down on him.

"Seems as if your direct approach didn't work out so well, either", she stated, raising an eyebrow in reply when as an answer, the guy just started to laugh, despite the blood which was still dripping from his nose and mouth, drying on his cheeks. "It doesn't matter", he then stated, "I'll have plenty of other chances…"

"Oh yeah?" Buffy gave back, keeping the sword close the man's throat, "what makes you think so? You know I'm the Vampire Slayer, killing your type is my job."

"See, this is where you're wrong", the man chuckled, grinning up at her cheerily, as if he hadn't just taken what probably had been the beating of his life from her. "You kill vampires, as your name implies, and demons. Like your bad-tempered friend over there. But you don't kill humans. Like me."

"Human?" Willow repeated, stunned – in all the years she had been friends with Buffy, the only more or less evil humans they had faced had been the Trio, and they hadn't really been interested in Buffy until she had started messing up their plans. "Why would a human go after the Slayer?"

"Easy", the guy gave back, gingerly putting a finger on the tip of the sword and moving it away from his throat, "just imagine… Being the guy who killed the Slayer… I'd be a legend among the demons around here. They'd crown me king and be my servants. Another plus is that Buffy isn't allowed to kill humans, even if they do bad stuff, so I can try again… and again… and again. Until I succeed. See your dilemma, Slayer?" He laughed again, standing up and dusting himself off, giving her a toothy, bloodied smile.

"You can't kill me", he repeated, crossing his arms over his chest and looking smug, "but I can kill you… and some day, I will."

"Is this true?" Anya demanded to know, throwing Buffy an irritated look, "you're not allowed to kill him? Just because he's human? He's bad anyway!"

"He is", Buffy confirmed, her sword dropping to the ground moments later, "but he's also right… No matter what, Slayers are not allowed to kill humans… I can't kill him…"

In response, the man laughed again, looking absurdly gleeful – only to be cut off when all at once, a hand closed around his throat and he was lifted off his feet, his eyes going wide as he started to choke.

"Maybe you can't kill him", Pat growled as she looked at Buffy, not even breaking a sweat despite holding the guy up so high that his feet were dangling a good twenty centimetres above the carpet, her eyes once more glowing brightly red, "but I can."


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: And here goes the final update for _Sanity Fair_. Thank you for reading, I hope you had as much fun with it as I had while writing it. I kinda "got in the zone" by now, so a third fic starring Willow and her fiery, short-tempered (hehe) companion will follow soon. :) Feedback is, as always, highly appreciated.

* * *

"Then she'll have to kill you", he managed to press out despite the demon's hold on his throat, his face by now visibly reddened. "The Slayer can't let it happen that a demon kills a human… Believe me, I thought this through…"

"Actually, I killed people too after I met Buffy, and I still live", Anya threw in, smiling at the man; he obviously wasn't glad to hear this, since he gulped audibly, then focused on the Slayer again, the blonde ignoring him though as she was looking at Pat.

"Technically, he's right, you know", she carefully stated, "I shouldn't let you kill him… He is a human after all…"

"So?" the black haired woman gave back, throwing Buffy a short look before she focused on the man in her grip again. "I'm a demon, killing people is part of my job description."

"Maybe we could get a vampire to drink him dry, turn him, and then you can kill him", Willow helpfully suggested; surprised, Pat threw her a glance, lowering the guy slightly as she replied. "What's this now? You were fine with me killing him when he sent his little fiery pet to fry you."

"Yeah well, I was very, very upset then", Willow gave back, throwing Buffy a nervous glance before she spoke on. "But he is right, if you kill him, technically, Buffy will have to kill you and, and for obvious reasons, I really don't want this to happen, so I'd prefer it if we could just find another way to get rid of him…"

Realizing that she was babbling, she forced herself to shut up, throwing the Slayer another look, this time a mixture of nervousness and helplessness; sighing, Buffy held her glance for a moment, then looked at the demon again, scratching the back of her head as she spoke up again. "You know, I'm kinda in a bind here. If I let you kill this guy, it technically would put you on my to-kill-list. If I don't let you do it, he'll pester me until he dies of old age."

"Then let me kill him!" Pat bellowed in reply, now sounding irritated, the smoke coming out of her mouth as she spoke not helping with making her look a bit more relaxed. "He had me turned to stone and I went crazy because of that, _and_ he nearly killed Willow! He deserves it!"

"Plus, it's not as if we just can hand him over to the police for this", Xander added, surprising everyone else in the room with what he said next. "We could just go outside and let her do it and then pretend it never happened."

In response, Buffy just looked at him for a while, the rest waiting for her reaction – before she turned and, without another word, left the room, Anya and Xander following after a moment of surprise, Willow remaining behind with her loved one, stepping up to her and looking at her in concern.

"You'll be able to do this?" she demanded to know, ignoring the pleading noises the man in her girlfriend's grip was starting to make, "killing him won't… change you?"

"I've killed hundreds of people", the demon replied, her gaze softening at the wince Willow let out – the fact that before they had met, her girlfriend had been hired to kill humans, was something she ignored successfully most of the time, but being told so bluntly made this impossible.

"It'll be fine", Pat thus rephrased her statement, despite knowing it was too late, "and it won't change anything… I promise. Now go outside and wait there with the others, I don't want you to see this."

After another moment, Willow nodded, touching her girlfriend's free hand briefly before she left; the moment she closed the door behind her, she heard the guy cry out, giving her best to ignore the sounds of Pat killing him which followed shortly afterwards, telling herself that this was the only thing they could do to get rid of him and that he never would have left them alone otherwise, giving her best to ignore the gnawing feeling in her stomach and the little voice in the back of her mind which kept telling her that this was wrong.

* * *

It didn't take long until the door opened and Pat stepped out of the room; she looked at the group in silence briefly, then cleared her throat, suddenly appearing uncomfortable as she spoke up. "I made it quick, even though God knows I wanted to make him suffer. Now, um, well, I guess we'll have to dispose of the body…"

"Let's just throw him down some ditch or something", Anya suggested, "or in front of a car! That way it'll look like an accident!"

"And traumatize the poor person driving that car?" Willow protested, shaking her head. "Bad idea… I'm for the ditch."

"Me too", Xander nodded his agreement; after a moment, Buffy nodded as well, her voice surprisingly calm when she spoke up. "A ditch it is… Let's do this now so we're done with this sorry business."

"So I'm not on your to-kill-list, right?" Pat demanded to clarify, clearly relieved when the Slayer shook her head; she gave the demon a wry smile, patting her shoulder afterwards as if to reassure her that her denial had been honest. "No, you're not… I hate to say this, but it was pretty much the only way. He never would have stopped… corny megalomaniac, wanting to the king of the demons or something…"

"Psh, as if any self-respecting demon would bow to someone so lame", Anya muttered, making the rest smile, this relieving some of the tension; afterwards, they all took in a deep breath before they re-entered the room to get rid of the corpse, all of them glad to see that Pat apparently had killed him by breaking his neck, thus making sure no blood had been shed and making his death quick, as she had said.

"Okay", Xander started prepping himself, "time to pick up the dead guy and throw him down some ditch. Or off some building, or whatever, I don't really care. I just want him out of the living room, to be honest."

"Let's go then", Pat sighed, moving to the corpse and grabbing his arms; Xander took hold of his feet, and together, the two carried the body out to the young man's car, the rest following shortly afterwards, watching how Pat and Xander loaded the corpse into the car before they all got into the vehicle and the young man drove off, no one saying a word as the car drove through the quiet night.

* * *

"I thought you said it's too cold out here", Pat stated two hours later as the door beside her opened and Willow stepped outside, joining her on the porch where she had gone to have a cigarette since Anya hadn't allowed her to smoke in the apartment; giving her a wry smile, Willow shrugged, stopping next to the demon and watching her smoke in silence for a while, until the black haired woman obviously had enough of it, since she let out a heavy sigh, turning to face the witch afterwards.

"Look, will this be a problem?" she demanded to know, realizing that she had sounded harsher than she had intended to when Willow gave her a shocked look in reply, her facial expression softening as she held the witch's gaze. "You know what I am, right? You knew when we got back together after this mess with you finding that pendant…"

"I knew, yes", the redhead gave back after a moment, "but… Knowing it and seeing it are two different things, you know…? I'm not saying it will be a problem, it'll just take me a while to get used to it… And, to be honest, I was scared…"

"Scared?" Pat echoed, disbelief entering her gaze moments later. "Of what? Of me? Willow, I'd never hurt you, I swear…"

"I know!" the redhead quickly reassured her, nervously moving a strand of hair behind her ear before she continued. "I wasn't scared of that… Or of you… I was scared that… I don't know, that killing him might… do something to you… change your feelings…"

"You thought it'd change my feelings for you?" Pat gave back after a moment of thinking about those words, making Willow nod slowly; shaking her head, the demon reached out with one hand to cup her cheek, holding her gaze as she spoke on, the warmth and love in her voice suddenly making Willow feel close to tears. "Willow… You know I always end up being horribly cheesy when I try to talk about such stuff, and that I'm not exactly comfortable with it, but… it doesn't matter what I'll do, I'll always love you. You mean so much to me, I just… I can't imagine being without you anymore. You're my life…"

"I love you, too", the redhead gave back, her voice trembling with held-back tears, "so much…" With those words, she stepped closer to the demon, hugging her tightly; and for a long time, they just stood like that, holding each other close, all of Willow's fears and worries slowly fading away until nothing was left of them anymore.

* * *

"This is such a waste of money", Anya sighed out for what felt like the millionth time; since she had said it so often by now, no one reacted to it anymore, all of them too mesmerized to pay much attention on her anyway since it was way more interesting to watch how Pat and Buffy tried to drink each other beneath the table. Since they had come to the Bronze several hours ago, five empty pitchers of beer had accumulated on the table, and a sixth one was on the way of being emptied as well; by now, both Pat and Buffy had a slight slur in their voice when talking, but were nowhere near as drunk as they should be after drinking that much.

Putting her emptied glass down, the demon let out a burp loud enough to gain the attention of several people around; ashamed, Willow hid her face, nearly crawling beneath the table when Buffy burped heartily as well, then refilled the glasses of both Pat and herself.

"How much longer do you think they'll go on until one of them is drunk enough to give up?" Xander whispered to the witch, making her shrug while she watched how the two lifted their glasses again, draining half of them with one big gulp.

"I don't know", she then whispered back, throwing her girlfriend a scolding look when she burped noisily once more, "but I know that I'll make Pat sleep on the couch if she doesn't brush her teeth before sleeping…"

"I heard that", the demon let her know, raising an eyebrow at her; innocently, Willow smiled at her, then shrugged, dramatically waving one hand in front of her face afterwards.

"Well, I mean it", she stated, "I won't let you sleep next to me stinking from the mouth. And just imagine the morning breath."

"I'll brush my teeth then", the demon grumbled in reply, taking another sip from her beer before she spoke on. "The couch's bad for my back anyway…"

"I thought you had no back problems", Willow immediately took the chance given for teasing, "and that two hundred and thirty eight is young for a demon?"

"You know, sometimes, your brilliant mind is really annoying", Pat complained in reply, giving the witch another sour look. "You never forget anything I say, ever!"

"Sorry", Willow giggled in reply, then leaned in to kiss her, making up for the teasing; immediately, she was forgiven as Pat responded to the kiss at once, a happy smile on her face when she pulled back again. It had been two weeks since the demon had killed the still nameless man who had been the cause for so much pain and misery, and by now, the whole group knew for sure that it wouldn't cause any problems; nothing between Willow and Pat had changed, showing the witch that her fears had been unjustified, no one seemed to be missing the guy as nothing had come up on TV or in the newspaper, and everyone was still behaving the same way towards the demon as they had before she had finished the guy off, making it clear that it wasn't a problem for them, either.

"Refill", Buffy now called out, holding up the emptied pitcher, distracting the witch from her ponderings; rolling her eyes, she watched how Buffy refilled the glasses once the fresh pitcher had been delivered, then just leaned back into her seat and relaxed, watching her girlfriend with a small smile on her face. All at once, her heart filled with happiness about having her back healthy and sane, all threats gone at least for now – and even if new ones would appear, she knew that the demon would do anything to protect her, and that they could get through anything together, this knowledge warming her heart and reassuring her that everything she had gone through until this moment had been more than worth it.

End.

_Songs used (in order of citation):_

_Iron Maiden - Moonchild_

_Kamelot - The Black Halo_

_Royal Hunt - Message to God_

_Epica - Chasing the Dragon_

_Tarja Turunen - __Falling Awake_

_Royal Hunt - Silent Scream_


End file.
